My soul is yours
by Aqua and Orange
Summary: Sans always found humans to be irritating. They blew through the land of Monsters like a tornado, always leaving behind a mess. The latest human boy to fall down Mt Ebott appears no more special than the other lost souls he's encountered. So why did the boy make him feel like he could be? SANSXMALEOC. SLASH/GAY, SO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. other character pairings, eventual smut.
1. Run!

**_Gaster!Sans x Male OC._**

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 _"When you come across a monster, try to strike up a friendly conversation."_

Ty wanted to believe he'd be able to sweet talk his way out of every encounter with a monster. Toriel made it sound so easy, her tone was so reassuring.

 _"Try a compliment. Maybe even tell a joke. I believe even the monsters with the darkest of hearts can be healed with kindness."_

He felt confident in the ruins. The kind woman praised him for being smart and gentle. The monsters were smaller, and oddly cute in a way - even if they wanted to attack him. Toriel helped the human avoid the more dangerous puzzles in the ruins. She cared for him, she cooked for him, and even if her reasoning was warped, she wanted nothing more than to keep him safe. If he needed help she was a phone call away.

But that was just practice. There was never any real threat or danger so long as she was there.

It's a different story in the wild.

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Ty darted and dashed through the forest, weaving around the trees that were smothered in an unforgiving, thick layer of snow.

 _Just keep running_

Just when he'd start to reach top speed, he'd end up bumping into a low hanging limb or trip over a rock. It was so damn dark. The chill in the air left the parts of his body not covered by clothing numb. He was bruised, he was scraped, and he was tired.

So tired.

But he had to keep running, he had to come up with a plan. He was by no means weak physically. He was short for a 21 year old, but lean and muscular. If he took the monster that was in pursuit of him head on the boy would get injured...but he would probably win. But he wanted to avoid that option if at all possible. One thing was certain though. The human's sides burned and he wouldn't be able to run much longer.

The boy darted behind a tall tree. He doubled over, clutching his chest.

 _It feels so damn good to stop for a moment and breathe, even if it feels like I'm inhaling ice cubes._

"STOP RUNNING HUMAN. I KNOW YOU'RE CLOSE. I CAN SMELL YOUR STENCH A MILE AWAY."

The human cautiously peered around the corner, and saw the monster scanning all the dead pine trees around him. The creature was only about a hundred feet away from him, and it was closing in. Ty recognized the monster from one of Toriel's books. It was a snowdrake. It looked like it was half chicken, half ice monster. It had wings, with the feathers resembling razor sharp icicles. The Snowdrake was much bigger than the boy, had a keener nose, and worst of all, it was fast. Especially in the snow. This wasn't a fight the human could flee from.

"QUIT COWERING AND DIE IN BATTLE. DIE WITH HONOR."

Without warning the snowdrake began to violently thrash its wings around, striking the nearby conifers, causing them to crack and splinter. One particularly sharp piece of wood fell by the human's feet.

A weapon!

This was his chance.

Ty grabbed the sharp hunk of wood and ran with abandon towards the snowdrake. The monster plucked a few of its razor sharp scales off of its own body, and hurled them toward the boy. The human got low and slid forward on his knees in an attempt to dodge the incoming projectiles. All but one ice shuriken whooshed right past his head. One shard however grazed his neck. It stung, but the cut wasn't too deep. The boy pushed the thought of pain out of his mind, and willfully ignored the small trickle of blood that began to run down the nape of his neck. With the ice below him pushing his momentum forward, he found himself underneath the startled monster in an instant.

 _I've got him!_

Filled with determination, the boy grasped his makeshift stake firmly in both hands and prepared to plunge it into the creature's heart. But right before he could pierce the skin, Toriel's gentle voice rang through his ears.

 _"You're such a kind human."_

" _You're a very good child."_

 _"I believe you can bridge the gap that has so greatly divided humans and monsters in recent years."_

Dammit, why did she have to have so much faith in him.

His body froze, his hands began to tremble, and the weapon fell harmlessly to the ground. He felt tears form in his eyes. He didn't want to take the monster's life. Don't get it twisted, it's not because he had some grand moral compass, or was a kind and caring person. He had no qualms killing anyone that wanted him dead. It was simply because that goat woman said she believed in him, and he didn't want to prove her wrong.

No one had ever believed in him on the surface, and he did not want to lose that feeling it gave him.

It's the only reason he'd gotten this far to begin with.

Once the monster realized the attack had ceased, the creature reflexively pushed the human away with full force. Ty was sent tumbling along the snow. The back of his head smacked against the tree behind him with a resounding crack. He opened his eyes, but his vision was blurry from the impact, and tinted red from the crimson goop gushing out of the fresh gash on his head. He wanted to run, he wanted to escape, but his strength was depleted.

 _I don't want to die here._

That's when he remembered the pie.

Toriel's baking was quite delicious, except for that snail pie. That was a little out there. But more importantly, the woman told him that her pies had healing properties when consumed. She carved a big slice and told the human to bring it with him on his journey, and to only use it in a real pinch.

Ty reached into his pocket and pulled out the slice of butterscotch cinnamon pie. It was somehow still warm, and now covered with pocket lint and snow. However, it was no time to be a picky eater. He scarfed it down in two bites. Within seconds his vision had returned to normal, and the bleeding from his wounds had ceased. Best of all, he felt neither pain, nor the numbness from the cold. A pleasant euphoria had instantly enveloped him.

His relief was short lived however, as the monster began to walk towards him menacingly. Ty scrambled to his feet and squared up his fists, as if he were prepared to box.

"HUMAN...YOU...WHY DID YOU NOT KILL ME?"

The question caught the human off guard. Ty had tried desperately to initiate a conversation before he was chased, just like Toriel advised him, but the monster refused to talk peacefully until now. Ty was silent for a moment, trying to come up with a genuine answer to the Snowdrake's question.

"I swore to another monster I wouldn't kill anyone."

"MMM...HUMANS SHOULD NOT BE TRUSTED BUT...YOU HUMAN, YOU SPARED ME. IN RETURN I SHALL LET YOU GO FREE. BUT, IF I HEAR THAT YOU'VE HURT A SINGLE MONSTER DURING YOUR JOURNEY, I WILL COME BACK AND TAKE CARE OF YOU PERSONALLY.

As the monster uttered that last word, a small tornado of cold air enveloped the Snowdrake's body and the creature vanished before Ty's eyes.

 _Fuck. That was close ._

The human slowly stood up and took in his surroundings. He wasn't quite sure where he was anymore. He'd lost track of his location during the Snowdrake chase. Toriel gave him directions to the nearby town of Snowdin but he was totally clueless as to which direction it was in now, and he was awful at navigation to begin with.

 _Might as well flip a coin_.

Ty dug out a piece of gold that he got from a froggit he talked to the other day.

"Heads I go left, tails I go right."

The human flicked the coin high into the night sky. It twinkled in midair and it reminded him of a star from back home. Stars were high up on the very short list of things he missed about living on the surface.

The coin landed with a soft thud in the snow. Tails. The boy could have cared less whether he was right or wrong, he just felt the need to keep moving. He didn't want to stand around like a sitting duck for another monster to prey on.

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The boy continued to trudge through the snow for the next few hours. The cold was beginning to really affect him. He was not dressed for this kind of climate. A tank top and jeans were not a good combination in what he surmised was 10 degree weather. Another day of roaming around like this and he'd die of hypothermia.

A large blanket of fog began to roll in as the thought of freezing to death crossed the boy's mind. He held his right hand in front of his face but he could not see his fingers at all. The human put his head down and plowed forward while the cold wind blew violently.

After an hour or so the fog finally began to dissipate and off in the distance the human saw the faint glow of what appeared to be streetlamps. It looked so inviting, so bright, so warm. He began to pick up the pace, suddenly hopeful he may actually survive this trek. He knew he wasn't a welcome guest in this world but if there was one monster willing to let him take shelter for the night, he'd be so very grateful.

Crunch

Ty swung his head around, startled by the noise of snapping twigs. Surely there was nobody behind him. He had been scanning his surroundings quite diligently. If someone was trying to follow him, he'd have noticed by now.

hehehehehehe

This time the noise came from the direction the boy was facing previously. A wave of panic began to overtake the human. The monsters he'd encountered up til now were loud, boisterous, and not very sneaky. But he was not alone right now, and someone was clearly messing with him.

"aw don't look so scared. why don't you turn around and shake my hand? I promise I wont bite."

The boy began to shake violently as he felt the breath of whatever was behind him hitting the back of his neck. His voice was hoarse, yet deep, and it made his hairs stand on end.

 _Dammit. How did he sneak up on me?_

Slowly, the boy turned around and opened his eyes for what he assumed would be the last time.

A skeleton with glowing yellow eyes, a leather jacket, and a cracked skull gave the boy a surprisingly warm smile, and offered an outstretched arm.

Instinctively, the boy took a step backward and ended up tripping over his own two feet, and fell ass first into the snow.

"lighten up kid, i'm not here to hurt you."

The skeleton crouched down so that he was inches from the boys own face. Again, the skeleton extended his arm, offering to help him up off the ground.

The human reluctantly reached out his hand and clasped it around the cool, hard, bony digits of the taller man. Ty tugged gently to hoist himself back up when all of a sudden...

pop

Ty fell backwards yet again, and shouted in horror when he saw that he'd somehow yanked the skeleton's arm right out the socket. He threw the detached limb back towards the man with a yelp.

"I, I, oh my god I'm so sorry I didn't mean to do that - it, it was an accident I swear I'm not trying to..."

The boy's panicked speech was interrupted by the howling laughter from the skeleton.

"i'm just screwing with you kid, look closer."

The boy looked up and now realized that the "arm" he had ripped out was clearly a fake prosthetic. The skeleton then extended his real arm out of his jacket sleeve, dug out a cigarette, and lit it.

The boy couldn't help but laugh. Moreso at his own stupidity than anything.

"oh good you're laughing. and here I thought all you did was scream."

" Can't help it, I've been pretty stressed lately." the boy quipped. "Can I bum a cig off of you? It would really help calm my nerves."

The skeleton raised an eyebrow bone at the request, but nodded and handed the human a cigarette.

"I'm Ty...can I ask what your name is?"

The skeleton leaned in close and lit the cigarette the boy had just stuck in his mouth, causing the human to fidget nervously.

"I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton."

The boy began to anxiously puff away at his smoke. He could feel his head fogging up in the best possible way. God he missed his smoking, even if this was a menthol. He'd been living under the surface for three weeks now and it was nice to get a taste of tobacco once again.

The two stood in silence for a minute or so, enjoying their respective smoke breaks. The human looked up at Sans in an attempt to steal a glance at the strange new monster. The skeleton however, was already glaring at the boy himself. Ty's eyes darted back down to the faint glow of his cherried cigarette instead. He was struggling to maintain eye contact with Sans. Those eyes were so damn piercing. Like he was staring through his very soul. After a while, the boy got tired of being stared at in silence by the skeleton, so he decided to make an attempt to break the ice.

"Do you live over there?" the human asked, motioning his thumb toward the nearby town.

"yeah I've lived there a while kid. you new here? you look like you're from out of town." The skeleton gave the boy a sarcastic grin.

"Did the flesh and blood give it away?"

"is that what that red stuff is?" Sans asked, poking a finger on the recently healed wound on the boy's head, eliciting a wince from the shorter male. "and here I thought it was ketchup."

The human chuckled again. He hadn't felt so at ease since he was with Toriel. Not that that was saying much though, since he'd been spending the past few days running for his life and trying not to get killed by monsters.

"So, you really don't want to fight me? All the other monsters I've run into since I've left the ruins have been pretty hard to reason with."

Sans took a big puff from his cigarette and blew it in the human's face, causing him to cough and roll his eyes.

"don't worry kiddo. I don't have a BONE to pick with ya."

Once again the human found himself chuckling. The skeleton decided to seize the moment.

"glad you find my jokes so HUMERUS kiddo. I have to admit, I know how to tickle a guy's FUNNY BONE."

The human laughed so hard that his cigarette fell out of his mouth and sank into the snow.

"Aw man I wasn't even halfway done with it." The human pouted.

"i'll make ya a deal, I'll give you another smoke if you do me a favor." The skeleton said as he dangled a pack of cigarettes in front of him.

"Name it."

"My older brother has been trying to capture a human for years now."

The human gulped upon hearing this, causing Sans to chuckle lightly.

"He's harmless kid don't worry. He just wants someone to try out his puzzles."

"That actually sounds...kind of fun." the human admitted.

The skeleton flicked his cigarette into the snow and snuffed it with the heel of his boot. He walked up to Ty and placed am arm around his shoulder and pulled him close.

"Good, cause you don't have a choice. Follow me."

And with that the human and the skeleton began their trek into town.


	2. The Solution?

_Finally._

How long had it been since the last person fell down the depths of Mount Ebott? 25 years? 30? Back when Asgore was still on his quest to collect seven human souls to break the barrier, it'd take no longer than 5-10 years for someone to fall down. Sans was beginning to wonder if he'd ever see another human being in his lifetime.

Frisk was the last. Sans had to admit, he liked that young human girl. For someone who was basically a mute, she was good at making her intentions clear. She wasn't deceptive, she was straightforward. She wore her heart on her sleeve and her soul was strong and healthy. She treated his friends kindly. Papyrus, Alphys, Toriel, hell even Undyne took a liking to the human. She was different than the previous lost souls. Sans watched every move she made in the underworld. She was attacked more than any human had been before, and she was the youngest by far. The monsters knew she was the missing puzzle piece to their salvation and were eager to take her down. What was the loss of one more human child for the citizens of the underworld to get a taste of salvation?

Most of the humans that came before her were captured long before they could make it to Asgore's throne room. Their souls were delivered to the king like some sort of fucked up pizza delivery service. That thought didn't sit well with Sans at all. Truth be told, he was ready to jump in and take on any monsters that were ready to kill her if she ever got in a real tight spot. If the king was the unquestioned powerful leader he was made out to be, then he should have sought out the soul and took her down himself. Not leave it to his underlings.

But his worries were unfounded. She proved to be more than capable of protecting herself.

As much as the skeleton hated to admit it, he had hoped that some crackpot happily ever after scenario would play out. One that involved Frisk staying alive. One where his friends emerged from the underbelly of society, and joined the humans to usher in a new era of peace. With Frisk holding hands with his brother Papyrus, and himself. The skelebros had no experience in caring for a human but maybe they could have been like older brothers to her. Teach her to ride a bike, pick her up from that "school" she mentioned, comfort her if her ever present determination wavered...

 _I'd just like to know if she's doing alright up there._

In the end Frisk did manage to escape to the surface. She expertly dodged Asgore's attacks and brought him to his knees. In a moment of regret the king begged the human girl to take his life so that she may escape to the surface, which she obliged. Sans couldn't blame the human for looking out for herself for a change. The girl was targeted by many monsters during her quest. Asgore's was certainly not the only soul she'd taken during her stay in the land below the surface. A lot of small fry creatures that she grew impatient with fell to her dagger.

What Frisk left behind was a world suddenly thrust into uncertainty, with an even bleaker sense of hopelessness than before she arrived.

Sans suggested to Toriel that she retake her position as queen and help quell the depression and unrest the monsters harbored after Asgore's death. But she told the skeleton that going back to her palace and resuming her throne would bring about more unpleasant memories than pleasant. She also believed a monarchy was not the way the underworld should be run any longer, for better or for worse. Furthermore, she wanted to remain in the ruins to care for, and train the next human that she came across. She felt that was the role she was meant to play to bring about a peaceful future.

After Frisk's battle, some members of the royal guard suggested that Undyne take the role of queen if Toriel was going to refuse. But other members of the guard questioned the choice considering how loyal she was to King Asgore. They knew the fish warrior was strong, but they felt her ideals were too similar to the king's own, and a repeat of the previous events which turned out to be a colossal waste of time, were bound to occur again. Seeing how divided her platoon was, Undyne decided to disband the royal guard entirely. Sans had not spoken to her for a couple of months, but the last time they talked she mentioned she was holed up with Alphys in the old lab. The two women had an agreement. If Alphys could not come up with a scientific solution to break the barrier, then Undyne would take the next two human souls that fell down, so that the two lovers could escape to the surface together.

Sans was ostracized by many citizens of Snowdin since he was seen aiding and caring for Frisk when she was still here. They saw that the girl wasn't as innocent as she seemed. She claimed the lives of other monster's friends, siblings, parents, and partners. Those wounds take a long time to heal, if they ever truly heal at all. But the skeleton thought of them as hypocrites as far as he was concerned. That kind of hateful and ignorant mentality is the very reason they were holed down here by humans to begin with. Fighting fire with fire just leads to everybody getting burned.

 _But if she killed one of my friends, would I still really feel this way?_

"Hey."

Ty's voice snapped the skeleton out of his consuming thoughts. Sans looked down at the boy who was a wearing a face of concern.

"You seem kind of out of it, you alright?"

"You're shaking like a leaf..." Sans responded coldly, "...and you look like you just jumped into a wood chipper. I should be asking you that kid."

"I'll be fine as long as your brother is close by."

"Don't worry we should run into him any-"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Sans recognized the extremely loud, piercing voice immediately. His older brother Papyrus was tearing through the snow at a frantic pace, with his eyes locked on Sans and the boy. Papyrus jumped high into the air and landed just a couple of feet away from Ty and himself. The sudden closeness caused the human to hide behind Sans, which the skeleton found quite amusing.

Papyrus flipped his cape dramatically and extended an accusatory finger toward Sans and the human.

"BROTHER. DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS HIDING BEHIND YOU?"

"My shadow?" Sans retorted sarcastically.

"NO, NO, NO. IT IS A HUMAN! I COULD RECOGNIZE THAT CREATURE ANYHWERE. BEWARE BROTHER, IT COULD LEAP OUT AT YOU AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT.

"Oh wow thanks bro, I didn't even see him there." The skeleton then teleported next to his brother, leaving the human completely and utterly confused.

 _That kid gets spooked easily, but he must be strong to have gotten this far. This could be fun._

"HUMAN! IF YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO SNEAK UP ON MY POOR DEFENSELESS BROTHER THEN YOU ARE MISTAKEN. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CAPTAIN OF THE NEWLY FORMED ROYAL GUARD, CHALLENGE YOU TO AN INTELLECTUAL DUEL. I HAVE CREATED SOME EXTREMELY DEVIOUS PUZZLES THAT ARE SURE TO BEWILDER AND CONFOUND YOU COMPLETELY. YOU MAY ONLY ENTER THE TOWN OF SNOWDIN IF YOU CAN GET PAST MY CUNNING TRAPS.

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 _This is so pathetic._

Sans couldn't help but laugh at the boy. He was only attempting the second of five puzzles his bro had laid out. The human got past the first one easily since the electric minefield that was supposed to shock the human if he took a wrong step was not functioning, but he had been going at this new puzzle for an hour. Sans had been polite enough to place a neat pile of rocks at the base of the puzzle, giving the boy a hint as to where he needed to walk so that he wouldn't get catapulted back to the start, but the boy was clearly not getting the hint.

"God dammit!" Ty screamed in frustration, pounding his fists into the snow. He was just launched back to the start for the twelfth time now and he was clearly starting to unravel. Sans had to admit the human was resilient. He'd been taking hard fall after hard fall. In a physical sense he was probably the toughest human he had seen.

But damn, the human truly sucked at puzzles.

"NYEH HEH HEH. I AM NOT SURPRISED THAT YOU ARE STRUGGLING SO MIGHTILY WITH MY PUZZLES. MY CLEVER TRAPS HAVE GIVEN ME A REPUTATION IN THIS TOWN. I HAVE BEEN REFERRED TO AS "THE GREAT PUZZLE-MASTER, THE CLEVER CONTRAPTION CREATOR, AND THE KING OF CONFUSION." The Great Papyrus held his skull in between his thumb and his forefinger. The taller skeleton was clearly pleased with himself.

"I'm pretty sure you're the only one that calls yourself that bro." Sans said, still laughing at the human's helplessness.

"SEMANTICS BROTHER. THIS HUMAN IS STILL NO MATCH FOR ME REGARDLESS."

"This is so annoying!"

Sans glanced toward the boy's direction and saw that he was picking up the rocks at the base of the puzzle, and hurling them into the snow.

 _Now he's messing up my rocks. He's ruining any chance he had of getting past this puzzle._

Sans rolled his eyes in annoyance. Maybe it'd be better if he just took the human's life and put him out of his misery. Perhaps he wasn't going to be as intriguing as the skeleton thought he'd be.

The human continued to hurl rock after rock into the snow, causing many of the ejection platforms to detonate. That's when the younger skeleton realized something.

 _He's using the rocks to detonate the traps._

With great accuracy Ty continued throwing the rocks into different sections of the quarter mile path separating himself from the skeleton brothers. The rocks Sans picked earlier were by no means light. Each had to be in the ball park of forty pounds. Boulders would probably be the more accurate term. The veins in the human's arms bulged with every mighty heave-ho. The kid must have trained diligently to achieve his muscular physique.

 _No brains, some brawn, and a whole of luck._

The human flung every last rock he could until all the traps Papyrus had laid out were set off. The human then slowly made his way around each and every pitfall until he reached the end. Exhausted from his recent show of strength, Ty panted heavily but wore a big shit-eating grin on his face. The human reached his palm out towards Sans, beckoning for a high five. The younger brother grinned and shook his head, as if to say "No fucking way kid." The boy put his hand down sheepishly.

"THAT...WAS A RATHER UNORTHODOX WAY TO SOLVE MY PUZZLE. THE RESOURCEFULNESS OF YOU HUMANS IS ALWAYS IMPRESSIVE. NO MATTER THOUGH, MY NEXT MAZE SHALL SURELY..."

The Great Papyrus trailed off as the brothers' new human acquaintance fell onto his knees. He was clutching his arms tightly, trying to shield himself from the cold, relentless wind. Sans looked down at the human and noticed his skin was starting to look a tad blue, and he was shaking violently.

"So cold...I can't..." the boy whimpered desperately.

Sans walked slowly over to the human, who was facing the ground covered in snow. He had forgotten how fragile humans can be.

"THE GREAT PAPYRUS ENJOYS VICTORY BUT...HE DOES NOT WISH TO ACHIEVE IT THIS WAY. HUMAN, YOU MUST SEEK SHELTER AND REGAIN YOUR STRENGTH SO THAT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CAN DEFEAT YOU PROPERLY IN A BATTLE OF WITS."

Sans tapped the boy's shoulder with his index finger gently. The boy looked up. His face was much paler than when they first met. Another hour or so in this weather and the kid would freeze to death.

"Think you can walk another half mile?" The skeleton asked Ty, as he lit a cigarette and stuck it into his mouth.

The look in the boy's eyes changed, as if he was suddenly filled with...determination.

"I can." He stated defiantly.

"The puzzles can wait. I'm taking him into town." Sans told his brother flatly.

"GOOD IDEA BROTHER. BUT WHERE SHALL WE TAKE HIM? THE MONSTERS OF SNOWDIN WILL NOT GREET HIM WARMLY."

"I'll take him to Grillby's. I'm still on decent terms with some people there."

Sans and Papyrus grabbed the boys arms, hoisted him to his feet, and began to help him walk toward the restaurant ahead.

"I...can...do it myself." Ty said, in between ragged breaths.

 _Spoken like a true human._ Sans thought to himself.


	3. Nourishment

"look alive kid."

Ty felt himself being gently lowered onto a patch of snow. The sudden cold, wet sensation on his backside abruptly lifted him out of his half conscious state. The human slowly opened his eyelids upon hearing Sans's voice and looked up at the two skeletons. The brothers were towering over him. Despite the fact that they had showed nothing but kindness to the boy, the sheer height of the monsters couldn't help but intimidate the smaller human. Sans was a good six inches taller than Ty, and his brother Papyrus appeared to be at least seven feet tall himself. The skelebros' yellow eyes shined obnoxiously bright in the darkness. It was almost painful to stare for too long, as if he were staring at four tiny suns.

"BROTHER. WE ARE ALMOST AT GRILLBY'S. WHY ARE WE STOPPIN-HEY!"

The shorter skeleton untied the bright orange cape that was tied around The Great Papyrus's neckbone.

"sorry bro, i'll give it back." Sans said apologetically. The younger skelebro then sauntered over toward the human and crouched down so that he was eye level with him. Grinning ear to ear, Sans gripped the ends of the fabric gently in both hands and dangled the cape over the human's face.

"hold still."

"Wha-MMF!"

The human's question was cut off by Sans not-so-gently wrapping the orange fabric over the boy's mouth, and around his head and neck several times. The skelebro gave one last good yank on the improvised scarf for good measure, to which Ty responded with a low growl. Sans simply snickered at the muffled noise.

"so terrifying." The skeleton remarked sarcastically. "i'm only doing this so you'll be less of a NUMB...SKULL."

 _Dammit. That was funny_. Ty rolled his eyes at the clever pun, suddenly grateful that the scarf was covering his face, which was plastered with a toothy smile. The gruff skeleton didn't deserve the satisfaction of amusing him yet again.

"But honestly..." Sans continued, now wearing a stoic face, "...we have to cover you up. You're too weak to run or fight and there are lots of monsters that would be more than happy to consume your soul so that they can escape to the surface world."

 _So it's just like Toriel said,_ the human thought. There were things she had been dishonest about during his time in the ruins, but she warned him about one thing in particular repeatedly. His soul was the key, the barrier was the padlock, and nearly all of monster-kind would be desperate to kill him first so that they may escape through the door that represented their freedom.

"put this on."

The boy gritted his teeth in annoyance as Sans slipped off his jacket and threw it onto the human's newly wrapped head, as if he were a coat hanger. Ty did desperately need an extra layer though, so he obliged and began to dress. He had to admit, the jacket fit him quite nicely. Ty was much shorter than Sans, so the jacket extended down to his kneecaps, but the top half fit him snugly. He lifted the hood, which was lined with faux fur, over his head for added protection from the cold. It really was a comfortable garment. It smelled strongly of smoke, and faintly of pine needles. It was nice.

The human glanced toward Sans who was now only wearing a gray turtleneck sweater to go with his black pants and boots. The shirt looked very becoming on the skeleton. It clung to his rib cage and clavicles snugly, leaving the outline of his bones barely visible underneath the fabric.

 _I didn't realize monsters could be such snappy dressers,_ the human thought.

"Uh, hate to break it to you kid but this is mine..." Sans said with a tone that sound mildly annoyed, pointing a thumb bone toward his sweater. "...you can only borrow the jacket. For a little while anyway."

Ty nervously looked down at his feet, as he came to the realization he was probably staring. The skeleton was extremely astute. It felt like he knew everything the human was thinking. The boy was a very guarded person on the surface, always putting an invisible wall between himself and others. The thought of being around a person, or in this case a skeleton, capable of seeing right through him made him feel uncomfortable at best.

"If anyone asks you're some sort of...ninja, monster, person. It's better if you don't talk to other monsters at all though." Sans warned, glaring at the boy.

"HUMAN, TAKE GREAT CARE OF THAT CAPE, IT WAS GIVEN TO ME BY MY DEAR BROTHER SANS AND I WILL BE VERY CROSS WITH YOU IF YOU STRETCH IT OUT OR SLOBBER ON IT. SANS, CAN WE GO NOW?"

"sure Pap. Lets move kid."

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

The trio emerged from the woods that they made a detour in, and reached the town of Snowdin just a few moments later.

"WELCOME TO SNOWDIN HUMAN."

 _What a relief_.

Ty glanced around at the town Papyrus and Sans called home. There was a neat path that cut through the middle of the snowy landscape. Quaint log cabins with tapered roofs littered the street. Each and every roof was draped in icicles and covered in a solid two inches of snow. Large chimneys puffed out billows of smoke that created a hazy fog above the city. Street lamps with dull, glowing yellow lights were nestled between each and every house. The human could see a Christmas tree off in the distance which was surrounded by monsters of all shapes, sizes, and varieties, clasping hands. It looked like a winter wonderland of sorts from a fairytale.

 _So why does everyone look so sad?_

There couldn't have been a bigger juxtaposition between the sight of the village, and the looks and demeanor of the villagers. Bears, lizards, rabbits, and other species of monsters sat on the snowy ground wearing tattered clothing. A shouting match was currently underway between two large dogs in suits of armor. A handful of the citizens glared at the boy and his new companions. Sans just avoided eye contact while Papyrus waved happily, oblivious to the disdainful looks the other monsters were giving them.

"this is it." Sans said, pointing to a large brick building. The top of the structure had a blinking neon sign that read 'GRILLBY'S."

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Sans glanced at the small crowd in the restaurant. It was a slow night thankfully, and he saw some familiar faces. The harsher-than-usual weather probably made most citizens opt to stay indoors for the night. The smell of cooked meat and alcohol wafted through the air, pleasing the skeletons olfactory senses. Even though Sans never felt cold, the warmth of the building made his bones feel great. It was the one place besides his house, which he shared with Papyrus, that felt like home to him, regardless of the events that had transpired over the years.

"HELLO EVERYONE. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE DECIDED TO GRACE THIS ESTABLISHMENT WITH MY PRESENCE THIS GOOD EVENING."

His brother's welcome was mostly ignored. A select few responded with a low grunt or a half-assed wave of the hand. Sans always admired Payrus's unaffected demeanor, especially in times like this. His optimism and confidence never faltered, and at the very least he'd take some attention away from the polarizing Sans and the disguised human they casually snuck inside.

While Papyrus made his rounds around the restaurant, Sans sat at a barstool at the end of the eatery. He turned around and watched the human who was slowly inching forward. Even though only his eyes were visible, Sans could tell the boy was wearing a very cautious expression on his face.

The younger skeleton snapped his fingers to get the boy's attention, and patted the barstool to his left, signaling to the human to sit down next to him.

"Hey Sans, the usual?"

The soft voice of the bespectacled fire apparition boomed throughout Sans's skull. To the skeleton's knowledge, Grillby was the only other monster capable of speaking telepathically. It was a skill Grillby possessed that Sans was very grateful for. The skeleton did not enjoy other monster's listening in on their conversations, and it would be especially useful tonight, since Pap and himself were on a covert missions of sorts.

"Just one bottle tonight, I'm not going to be staying very long." Sans thought. The apparition nodded and fetched a bottle of ketchup from the back of the kitchen.

"You know I'm going to run out of this stuff one day, and I'll have only you to blame." Grillby thought flatly, handing the ketchup to Sans.

"Everything wrong with this place is my fault anyway right? Might as well add lack of condiments to the list."

"Um, can I ask what your new friend is doing?"

Sans turned his attention toward the human who was leaning close to Grillby. The boy was clearly enjoying the warmth the bartender emitted, holding out the palms of his hands as if the monster were some sort of fireplace.

Sans flicked the human's forehead with his middle finger.

"Ow, what was that for?" the human asked, glaring at the skeleton to his right.

"it's rude to loiter you know. how about you order some food?"

The human scanned the wooden menu tacked above the bar. Sans dug out yet another cigarette and stuck it into his mouth. Grillby leaned toward the skeleton and flicked his fingers, igniting the smoke for his old friend.

"How much are the cheese fries?"

Grillby held up his "arm" and produced an image of fire that simply read '10G'. Ty dug through his jeans and handed 10 coins to Grillby, who stuffed the currency into his back pocket.

"Wow, your friend actually pays up front instead of putting his meal on a tab. I like him already." Grillby remarked telepathically to Sans.

"I'll pay it off next time." Sans shot the bartender a devious grin.

"I've heard that before."

Grillby set the plate of fries in front of the human who inhaled the aroma gleefully. Sans reached out to grab his bottle of ketchup and take a large gulp, but the human snatched it just before he could do so.

Ty squirted a heaping pile of ketchup onto the fries, so much so that it looked like a carton of ketchup with some fries thrown in as opposed to the other way around. Surprisingly, the human lifted the bottle to his lips and squirted a small amount into his mouth, and swallowed. The boy then let out a contented sigh

 _He likes ketchup too, huh?_

"Don't. Hog it." Sans growled. The human boy looked up at him with a baffled expression and promptly handed the bottle back to the skeleton.

God did Sans love the taste of ketchup. It was perfectly salty and sweet, and had a nice little kick to it as it went down. He stuck the nozzle in between his mandibles and began sucking the sweet nectar. He plopped the bottle back onto the counter after he had consumed about half the container. The skeleton looked at the masked human next to him, whose eyes were wide with a mixture of disbelief and disgust.

"I uh, didn't think you needed to eat or drink." Ty stated quietly, cocking an eyebrow.

"I don't _need_ to, but I do like the taste of certain foods." Sans opened his mouth wide and exposed his long, normally neon-yellow tongue, which was now stained red from the tomato-based meal he had moments ago. The human quickly averted his gaze and turned his attention back toward his own food. Ty lifted the veil that covered his mouth so that he could eat the small meal in front of him. His new human friend's face was tinted a light shade of pink.

 _Why the hell is he blushing?_ Sans thought, fighting the urge to laugh at the weirdo.

All humans were weird as far as the skeleton was concerned, but this human was starting to take the cake. One minute the boy would be a blubbering nervous wreck, then impossibly strong the next. Like the volume of his determination wavered from moment to moment, depending on the situation. That bipolar tendency of his was especially evident during that fight the kid got into with the Snowdrake earlier. Unbeknownst to the human, Sans watched the human dodge and block every attack that was thrown his way. Sans was positive the human was going to stab the creature through the heart, and the skeleton's intuition was rarely incorrect.

 _The kid had the eyes of an assassin, and in an instant, they were filled with tears._

"So where did you get that gold?" Sans questioned, fixing his gaze onto the human yet again.

"A few of the monsters I've run into just drop it on the ground sometimes. I feel bad taking it but someone should use it."

 _He's telling the truth._

Sans stuck the ketchup bottle into his mouth and sipped gently, content with the human's answer. He was sure now. The human had yet to take the life of a monster. But he couldn't shake the feeling that there were sins staining the human's soul. But perhaps that was a conversation to be had at a later date.

The boy waved down Grillby, who was casually chatting with a duck that seemed like he had far too much to drink.

"Do you have any water?" the human asked.

Grillby shivered at the question, causing the skeleton to chuckle softly. Grillby wasn't fond of water for good reason. The human was truly oblivious to some things. Sans then waved at the bartender himself, and held two fingers up in the air. The fire monster nodded in understanding and pulled out two small whiskey glasses. In an impossibly fast flurry, Grillby produced two cocktails and handed them to Sans and the human.

"i'll show you where you can get some water later. drink this for now kid."

Ty sniffed the drink suspiciously. "What's in it?" the boy asked, poking the raw egg that was floating at the top.

"it's a prairie oyster. Vinegar, vodka, an egg, and tons of ketchup."

The skeleton reached his glass out and clanked it against the human's.

"Bottom's up." Ty said apprehensively.

Sans drank the concoction in one swift gulp. It went down smooth as always. The ketchup was always good, but the drinks were top-notch.

The boy chugged it down and let out a small cough afterward. "Not bad." the boy said, smacking his tongue.

Sans puffed his cigarette for the next few minutes while the boy scarfed down his French fries. Some soft jazz was playing from the newly repaired jukebox in the corner of the restaurant. The other patrons of Grillby's were being quiet and not bitching about Sans's presence for a change. There was a carefree ambiance in the air tonight. The skeleton was grateful to have a quiet, pleasant evening for once. It was one of those rare instances where he felt like he was surrounded by more friends than foe.

"So uh, thanks for bringing me here." the human said. "I might have croaked if I didn't run into you back there."

"must be your lucky day kiddo." Sans said, throwing a wink the boy's way.

"Is there uh, any reason you decided to help me?"

Sans put his ketchup bottle down and looked at the ceiling. It was a good question. Sans admittedly wondered the same thing when Frisk was around. But he was never able to come up with a good answer.

"Ty, what's your plan?" Sans figured he might as well deflect the human's question for now until he could produce a suitable response.

"What do you mean?"

"How are you going to get back to the surface? I'm sure Tori told you right? You need your own soul as well as the soul of another monster. It's the only way to get out of this place."

The human stared at the counter and swirled around the second cocktail Sans had just ordered for them both.

"I don't know if I want to go back."

 _So all the monsters here are dying to get a taste of the real world, and the one person who can escape with no problem isn't sure if he wants to go back home._

The irony was not lost on Sans.

"why the hell would you want to stay here kid? you don't belong here." The skeleton stated coldly. The human was now wearing a small frown on his face. Perhaps what Sans had said just now was a little too harsh. But the truth was like that sometimes.

"I never really felt like I belonged up there anyway. I know it's more of the same down here but...I feel more at home here for some reason."

 _He's telling the truth again?_

Sans could sense that the human wasn't the type to be so forthcoming normally. But he was spilling his guts to the skeleton, someone he'd just met a few hours ago.

Humans were always full of surprises.

"well, that's your decision to make I guess. but sometimes life sucks no matter where you are kid, so don't be fooled by changes in scenery."

Sans considered prying into the boy's situation further, but his train of thought was interrupted when his brother waltzed up to him from behind and began to thump Sans's skull with his gloves.

"BROTHER! BROTHER!" Papyrus exclaimed nervously.

"what is it bro?"

"LOOK OUT THE WINDOW BROTHER."

Sans spun around in his barstool and saw the source of his brother's anxiety. Two small, agile robots with infrared scanners were roaming the streets just outside the restaurant. Sans recognized them immediately. They were a couple of Alphys's creations. When Sans spoke to Undyne over the phone months ago she mentioned that the former royal scientist was building some automatons that were capable of detecting human DNA. If the robots entered the restaurant, they'd see right through the disguised human, and Undyne would come to Snowdin to confront the boy, and steal his soul.

 _So much for a night out on the town._

"kid, we got to go. take my hand."

"Huh?" The human asked, confused at the sudden change in conversation. "What's wrong?"

This was no time for explanations, he could fill the boy in on the situation later. Sans grabbed Ty's arm with one hand, and clutched his brother's glove with the other. A yellow aura enveloped the three males, and in an instant they had vanished from the area, the robots none the wiser.

"No tip?" Grillby thought to himself.

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Sans's teleportation was always a handy trick, whether it was to surprise unsuspecting humans, or to get him and his brother out of a tight pinch. In this instance he was able to do both at the same time.

"What..what just happened? Where are we?" the boy asked, scanning his new surroundings.

"HUMAN. YOU ARE SO LUCKY TO HAVE US AS YOUR GUARDIANS THIS EVENING. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SPOTTED SOME DASTARDLY ROBOTS THAT WOULD HAVE SURELY CAPTURED YOU IN AN INSTANT. HOWEVER, THANKS TO MY BROTHER, WE TELEPORTED BACK TO OUR HUMBLE ABODE WITHOUT SUSPICION."

"sorry kiddo, I didn't have time to warn you. those robots are bad news and I didn't want the night to end on a sour note. you getting killed would have spoiled my appetite."

"Guess you guys bailed me out yet again. I owe you." the human remarked.

"NONSENSE HUMAN IT IS OUR PLEASURE. BROTHER IT IS GETTING LATE, AND I HAVE A MAGNIFICENT IDEA. THE HUMAN SHOULD STAY WITH US FOR THE NIGHT. THIS WAY THE HUMAN DOES NOT GET CAPTURED BY SOMEONE ELSE, AND WE CAN HAVE A BIG SPAGHETTI BREAKFAST IN THE MORNING."

Sans nodded in agreement, while Papyrus jumped up and down gleefully.

"Spaghetti...for breakfast?" The human repeated, as if he had misheard the taller skeleton somehow.

Papyrus rushed toward Sans and Ty and pulled them into a great big skeletal bear hug.

"OH THIS IS SO EXCITING, IT'S BEEN SUCH A LONG TIME SINCE A HUMAN HAS STAYED IN OUR HOME. I HAVE SO MANY PUZZLES THAT I WISH TO TEST ON YOU TY THE HUMAN. BUT FOR NOW THE GREAT PAPYRUS REQUIRES BEAUTY SLEEP SO THAT HE MAY BE AS DILLIGENT A GUARDIAN TOMORROW AS HE WAS TONIGHT."

 _Dammit, he's going to break one of my ribs hugging me like that one day._ Sans thought.

Papyrus reached over toward the human and unraveled the cape that the boy had borrowed for the night, and headed toward his room.

"I WISH YOU TWO GOOD NIGHT. SANS, PLEASE BE A GRACIOUS HOST AND SHOW THE BOY WHERE HE WILL BE SLEEPING THIS EVENING."

His brother flung the door to his room open and slammed it shut. Sans could hear Pap giggling gleefully from behind the door. It warmed his "heart" to see his brother so excited once again.

 _Jacket._

Sans walked over to Ty and unzipped the jacket he lent the boy. The skeleton hoisted it over his head gently, and threw it back onto his own body.

"stay here."

Sans walked up the stairs to his own room. It was small, quiet, and littered with socks and papers. Just how he liked it. He began to rummage through a small desk drawer until he found what he was looking for. It was the old blue hoodie he used to wear years ago. Back before a piece of W.D. Gaster's soul intermingled with his own. The resulting metamorphosis increased his height, and it simply didn't fit him anymore. It would probably fit the human perfectly though.

Sans emerged from his room after a couple of minutes with the hoodie, a blanket, and a box of Camel Crushes with one solitary cigarette left in the pouch, and tossed it to the human.

"there's a sink in the kitchen if you need some water. so uh, you can sleep here on the couch. it's not the best but beggars can't be choosers right?"

"No complaints here..." Ty said as he threw the blue hoodie onto himself. "thanks again for looking out for me tonight. Hope I'm not being a burden."

"no offense kid, but you were gonna be a burden to everybody in town the minute you fell down the mountain. I've been around worse company though." Sans said, shooting a wink at the boy.

"Well g'night." The kid mumbled.

"ditto."

Sans strolled back to his own room and plopped himself down onto the bed. Normally doing so much in one day would drain him physically. He much preferred lazing about the house. But today was an exception.

 ** _You know nothing good will come of this though right?_**

The pessimistic voice in his ears always reared it's ugly head at night, right before he'd prepare to go to sleep. Sans writhed under his blanket as he felt a pang shoot throughout his skull. He wouldn't mind the intrusive thoughts so much if they weren't always so damn accurate.

Sans lifted the hood of his jacket over his ear holes to help comfort the sudden throbbing he felt in his cranium. Sharp pains radiated along the crack in his skull that ran from his right eye socket to the base of his head.

The skeleton inhaled deeply, and caught a whiff of the light scent that rubbed off of the boy and onto his clothes. He smelled a tinge of sweat, ketchup, and the distinctive sweet-smelling aroma that humans tended to have. Sans continued to breathe deeply through his nose, focusing on the pleasant odor.

As he did this, his migraine began to hurt a little less.

Maybe he'd sleep well for a change.

A/N

Satisfied with the changes I've made. Done messing with the first 3 chapters. Some grammar left to correct but what can I say, I'm a lazy bones.


	4. Blood

The expansive room that surrounded Ty was a vivid, brilliant white. The human could not recall ever being in a place like this before. There were no monsters, no people, no doors, no windows, no anything. It was absolutely empty. His surroundings offered no clue as to how the boy arrived in the first place, or how he could possibly leave.

 _There must be a hidden switch or something._

The boy decided to walk toward the wall in front of him in hopes he'd find some sort of clue that would lead to an exit. However when he tried to walk, his legs did not respond. The human then tried to move the other parts of his body to no avail. Ty was completely paralyzed. He couldn't raise an arm, he couldn't take a breath, and he couldn't open his mouth so that he may let out a terrified scream.

 ** **drip****

 ** **drip****

 ** **drip****

Inches in front of the human, a glowing black ooze began to trickle from the ceiling and onto the floor. In a few short moments the trickle became a steady leak. The steady leak then became a violent downpour. The sticky liquid now covered the entirety of the white surface he found himself glued to, and the water level was rising rapidly.

 _I'm going to drown._

Ty began to muster up every last ounce of determination he had, and continued in vain to make his body respond.

 _Move!_

 _Move!_

 _Move..._

His soul burned hot. His internal strength began to flow throughout his entire being as it always did, but his body still refused to cooperate. The dark goop was now above his waist and still ascending. The human had been in countless situations where his life was on the line in the past, and up till now he was always able to fight his way out, and live another day. But in this moment, he was helpless.

 _This is the end I guess._

He wished he was able to move just his eyelids, so that he may close them and avoid seeing the exact moment his life would be snuffed. The human couldn't picture a worse place to die. A blank room that he'd never set foot in until now. There were no familiar smells, no signs of life anywhere, and nobody to say goodbye to. Would anyone even find his body? Would they know he was dead?

 _Who would come try and find me anyway?_

The human's bridges on the surface were burned completely. There were no parents, siblings, or friends that were up there missing him right now. His existence had been a solitary one until recent weeks. When Toriel welcomed him to the monster's realm, it had been the first time he'd spoken to anyone in months.

Ty's heart dropped a little bit thinking of her. In the end, it was a foolish decision for her to put her faith in the boy. He was not a hero nor a savior. He wasn't some child of prophecy that was going to change things for the better. He was just another kid that was going to lose his life in this place. Hopefully Toriel will be more selective with entrusting her hopes and dreams to another human in the future, if another one ever falls down Mt. Ebott at all.

 _What a pathetic life._

He was going to die a lonely, broken man. The contents of his heart and soul known only to himself. The human never encountered anyone in his home above the surface that he could trust or open up to. Maybe there were some good eggs he never came across, but in the boy's experience every human he'd ever met proved to be selfish and deceitful.

The boy left behind that life and willingly escaped to the monster's world, hopeful that he could live a more open and honest existence that he did not possess above the surface. One where he could find a monster willing to accept his flaws, fears, and his sins. Someone the boy could bare his soul to. Someone able to destroy the invisible emotional barrier that guarded a fragile heart. He wanted to make a good friend. A best friend. Or maybe even more than that.

 _Sans..._

The thought of the funny skeleton strangely put his thoughts at ease, despite his impending doom. If Sans was with him now the monster would probably laugh at him. He'd say something like, "you're in a SKELE-ton of trouble kiddo." or "you're a BONE-ified trouble magnet, kid."

But if Sans was here, the skeleton would save him yet again. The human truly believed that.

A swirling sound coming from the black pool that was up to Ty's chest now, broke his train of thought. A large figure draped in the dark ooze began to slowly rise to the surface. Ty watched in horror as the gunk slowly dripped off the monster standing in front of him, revealing a skeleton. In a vague way, the man resembled Sans. He even had the same crack on the right side of his skull. But the sight of this monster was infinitely more terrifying. The skeleton was twice the boy's size, and had a face that looked like it was melting, and ready to fall off at any given moment. Its two large eye sockets resembled bottomless black holes since the skeleton had no pupils, and the mysterious ooze that surrounded the pair slowly leaked down the monster's face. He wore a devilish grin and it sent chills up and down the boy's spine.

Two long, viscous tentacles slowly emerged from underneath the monster's lab coat, and began to wrap themselves around the human's wrists. The boy tried to yank his arms away from the creature's grasp, but his body was still refusing to move.

The ghastly looking skeleton extended his left arm and let it hover just above the boy's heart. Ty looked on in horror as the monster's eyes narrowed. His devilish smile was growing wider by the second. The skeleton chuckled madly in a deep warped voice.

In an instant, all of the heat within the boy's body vanished and the colors of his vision became inverted. The ooze appeared to be white now, and the walls of the large room were now black. Despite the human's body being completely chilled now, he felt a hot burning sensation in his chest which was now glowing a dull green. Inch by inch Ty felt his soul being extracted from his body by the terrifying skeleton. The monster looked on in fascination as the soul inched out further and further.

 ** **pop****

"OHHHHHHHH." the monster moaned delightedly. The man was holding his soul in the hollowed out palm of his hand. The human watched helplessly as the skeleton ogled the source of his own life. The boy's soul resembled a small heart-shaped glass container, filled mostly glowing red liquid, with a small patch of blue liquid nestled at the top.

"✋❄ ? ﾟﾒﾧ ? ﾟﾒﾧ❄ ✋?￢ﾘﾜ ✋? ﾟﾓﾬ ❄ ?￢ﾚﾐ ? ✌ ? ﾟﾒﾧ❄ ? ﾟﾕﾈ✋❄?￢ﾘﾟ ? ✌ ?￢ﾘﾠ? ﾟﾓﾬ ✋❄? ﾟﾒﾧ ✌? ✋ ? ﾟﾕﾆ? ﾟﾏﾱ ?￢ﾝﾄ ? ﾟﾓﾬ"

 _What the fuck?_

Ty watched in confusion as strange symbols floated above the man's free hand. Surely he didn't expect him to understand any of that, right?

Without warning, the skeleton plunged the boy's soul back into his body. The man then gently placed his hand bone onto Ty's shoulder, and displayed another bizarre set of symbols.

"✡ ? ? ﾟﾕﾆ?￢ﾝﾄ ?￢ﾝﾄ✌✡ ✌ ✋✞ ? ﾟﾒﾣ✌ ?"

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"HUMAN, ARE YOU OKAY?"

Papyrus's voice caused Ty to lurch violently out from under his blanket. His head smacked against something cool and hard, causing the boy to wince in pain.

"OUCH!"

The human opened his eyes and saw Papyrus rubbing his skull with his mittens. Ty looked around the room, which was no longer a black and white torture chamber. He held his hand over his heart and felt the warmth of his soul which was still inside his body. Everything was all as it should be.

 _Was that all really just a dream?_

"TY THE HUMAN, YOU ARE MORE DEVIOUS THAN I THOUGHT. THAT WAS A CLEVER PLAN INDEED, MOANING AS IF YOU WERE IN PAIN, THEN HEADBUTTING ME THE INSTANT I CAME OVER TO CHECK ON YOU."

"Sorry about that..." the human mumbled, "...I didn't do that on purpose. I was having a nightmare."

"AH YES NOW I REMEMBER!" Papyrus exclaimed. "ALPHYS MENTIONED SOMETHING ABOUT NIGHTMARES TO ME ONCE BEFORE. A COMMON TRAIT FOUND IN HUMANS. NIGHTMARES SOUND LIKE THEY ARE UNPLEASANT, AND A COLOSSAL WASTE OF TIME. I'M THANKFUL TO BE INCAPABLE OF HAVING SUCH DREAMS BECAUSE THEY APPEAR TO SERVE NO REAL PURPOSE AT ALL."

"Consider yourself lucky." Ty said flatly. He placed the palm of his hand over the spot where he crashed his skull into the skeleton's own. He held his hand in front of his face and saw it was stained with a small patch of blood. It was nothing too bad in comparison to some of the injuries he'd received in battles with monsters.

"I AM ALMOST FINISHED COOKING THE PASTA HUMAN, PLEASE HAVE A SEAT IN THE KITCHEN SO THAT WE CAN HAVE A HEARTY MEAL TO BEGIN THE DAY.

The boy waltzed into the kitchen which was littered with opened and unopened pasta boxes. The human grabbed some plates and set them on the table while Papyrus stirred the noodles with tremendous force, sloshing some of the boiling water onto the floor, and onto his own skeleton as well.

 _Mental note: Don't stand next to Papyrus while he's cooking._

"Do you mind if I smoke inside?" the human asked, suddenly remembering the untouched cigarette that Sans gave him the night before.

"IT DOES NOT BOTHER ME, MY BROTHER DOES IT ALL THE TIME. WHY YOU WISH TO DO SUCH A THING TO YOUR LUNGS IS BEYOND ME HOWEVER.

The boy dug out his cancer stick and ignited it. Papyrus did have a point. He knew it was not a good way to deal with stress. He really should find a more healthy way to quell his worries. But the images in his dream came back to him every time he blinked.

"Humans do a lot of things that don't make sense." Ty responded.

"I CAN SAY WITH CERTAINTY MONSTERS DO AS WELL. MY BROTHER MAY NOT HAVE LUNGS TO DIRTY UP, BUT ALL THOSE CIGARETTES MAKE HIM SMELL VERY UNPLEASANT AND HIS JAWBONE IS STARTING TO LOOK A TAD YELLOW. HE REALLY SHOULD STOP."

"Where do you find stuff like cigarettes and pasta anyway? These are the kind I smoked back home."

"AT THE GARBAGE DUMP OF COURSE, JUST BELOW THE WATERFALL. YOU HUMANS ARE VERY WASTEFUL. THERE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH UNTOUCHED FOOD THAT MAKES ITS WAY TO US. THE SAME GOES WITH CIGARETTES, CLOTHING, AND OTHER THINGS."

"One man's trash is another monster's treasure I guess."

"WELL PUT HUMAN."

Papyrus strained the water out of the pot and plopped the remaining pasta into a large serving bowl. He then threw several tomatoes in and pounded them loudly with his gloves, causing the human to jump in his seat.

"DIG IN." Papyrus shouted as he divvied the giant bowl of spaghetti between the three set plates at the table.

Ty twirled some noodles around his fork and chewed. The pasta was cooked perfectly, and the unorthodox way Papyrus made the spaghetti sauce worked surprisingly well. It could use some seasoning, but the boy assumed that things like salt and pepper didn't drift to this land often. And there was no way any sort of herbs could be grown in the unforgiving climate of Snowdin.

"Where'd you learn to make spaghetti?" the boy asked.

"MY OLD MENTOR, AND FORMER LEADER OF THE FORMERLY FORMED ROYAL GUARD UNDYNE, TAUGHT ME HOW TO MAKE THIS DELICIOUS DISH YOU HAVE IN FRONT OF YOU."

"What's the royal guard?"

"BACK WHEN I WAS TRAINING TO BECOME A MEMBER, THEY WERE THE GROUP OF WARRIORS THAT WERE IN CHARGE OF CAPTURING AND KILLING ANY HUMANS THAT SET FOOT IN THIS WORLD. HOWEVER, UNDYNE DECIDED TO DISBAND THE ROYAL GUARD ENTIRELY, SO I DECIDED TO MAKE MY OWN ROYAL GUARD. I AM THE ONLY MEMBER AT THE MOMENT BUT PEOPLE WILL SURELY COME IN BUNCHES BEGGING TO JOIN SOON ENOUGH."

"But...you're not uh, gonna kill me...right?" Ty asked with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"NONSENSE HUMAN YOU ARE A GUEST IN THIS HOUSE. I HAVE NO DESIRE TO TAKE YOUR SOUL. I SIMPLY ENJOY THE THRILL OF THE CHASE. I'D LIKE TO CAPTURE YOU PROPERLY AT SOME POINT, SEEING HOW YOUR FRAIL BODY DID NOT HOLD UP IN THE COLD LAST NIGHT. I HAVE MANY PUZZLES I WISH TO USE AGAINST YOU. PERHAPS NOW THAT YOU ARE WEARING SANS'S OLD HOODIE, YOU CAN BRAVE THE COLD AND FACE THE WRATH OF MY PUZZLES."

Ty began to run his fingers along the fabric of the coat upon hearing Sans's name. He was grateful for the warmth it provided. He'd have to take good care of it. He didn't want to ruin the gift Sans bestowed upon him.

"I'm up for it. We just have to be careful around other monsters and those robots right?"

"PRECISELY HUMAN. NEVER FEAR HOWEVER, YOUR TWO NEW FRIENDS SHALL SEE TO IT THAT YOU ARE NOT ENSNARED BY ANY DASTARDLY MONSTERS OR HEAPS OF SCRAPMETAL."

"You want to be friends?"

"THAT IS AN ILLOGICAL QUESTION, WE ARE ALREADY FRIENDS. SANS DOES NOT ENJOY ATTEMPTING MY PUZZLES AND I AM GRATEFUL TO HAVE A REAL LIVE HUMAN TO PRACTICE AGAINST NOW. AND MY BROTHER LOOKED HAPPIER YESTERDAY THAN I HAVE SEEN HIM IN DECADES. UNFORTUNATELY YOU WILL TAKE THE BRUNT OF HIS SILLY PUNS AND JOKES. YOU HAVE MY SYMPATHY HUMAN."

 _Friends, huh?_

"...SPEAKING OF," Papyrus continued. "THAT LAZY BONES IS GOING TO BE EATING COLD SPAGHETTI IF HE DOES NOT WAKE UP SOON. SANS! WAKE UP AND JOIN YOUR DEAR BROTHER AND THE NEW HUMAN FOR BREAKFAST."

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Sans let out a soft moan as he yanked the covers off of his body. He sat still in bed for a moment as he let the cloudiness in his head that lingered from his sleep disappear before attempting to get up.

 _I slept?_

 _I slept_ _well_ _?_

Sans could tell that it was pretty late in the morning, despite the lack of a sun outside to signal what time of day it was.

Nights where Sans managed to drift into unconsciousness were an exceedingly rare occurrence these days. He'd gotten used to the insomnia and the effects it had on his mind and body. It made him tired and it made him lazy. But he found himself well rested this morning and almost..excited to greet the day?

Sans swung his feet over the bed and put on his comfiest pair of slippers before shuffling over to his desk and grabbing a pack of smokes.

The skeleton pulled the hood of his jacket over his skull as he did last night and took a whiff. The human's scent that helped him block the pain of his headache was gone, and only the familiar smoky smell remained now. This realization slightly disappointed Sans.

The younger skelebro flicked his lit cigarette into his mouth and swung open the door of his bedroom.

"IT IS ABOUT TIME YOU JOINED US BROTHER. PLEASE SIT DOWN AND EAT, I MADE SPAGHETTI."

"you always make spaghetti bro." Sans said grinning.

"Good morning." the human said waving to Sans.

Sans sat himself down at the table and began to douse his spaghetti with his favorite condiment. He looked up at the human and saw bags under his eyes, and a small cut on his forehead.

"morning...you look like shit." Sans said, chuckling at the human.

"What else is new?" the boy quipped.

"poor kid. did you get in a fight with the sandman last night?"

"THE HUMAN HAD A NIGHTMARE AND WHEN I WENT TO CHECK ON HIM HE HEADBUTTED ME FOR NO APPARENT REASON." Papyrus screamed with a mouthful of noodles.

"well that was a BONE. HEADED. decision kid."

Papyrus facepalmed while the human roared with laughter. It was nice having someone around that appreciated his comedy. That one was a double pun no less.

"so what was the dream about?" Sans asked.

"Not gonna lie it freaked me out a bit. Dreamed that some droopy skeleton yanked my soul out of my body. He kind of looked like you actually, go figure."

"droopy skeleton huh?"

"Yeah. I couldn't move and he couldn't speak. He just conjured up some weird symbols with his hands. Mailboxes and frowny faces and stuff. My dreams always make zero sense." the boy said as he let out a yawn.

 _A droopy skeleton that talks with his hands?_

Sans stopped eating and propped his head up against his fist. Why the hell would the human be dreaming about W.D. Gaster? He'd have no way of knowing who the scientist was, much less what he looked like. Did a piece of the former royal scientist's soul somehow reach the boy? This thought was concerning at best. Sans and Papyrus locked eyes for a moment, silently acknowledging that they were thinking the same thing.

"uh, kid if you have any more nightmares let me know. talking about it helps right? maybe I can make you feel better."

If this happened again, Sans wanted to make sure he got wind of it.

The human looked at Sans with a face of appreciation and embarrassment. Yet again, his human friend's face was turning a light shade of pink. Sans wasn't sure what he said to make the boy turn red like that, but it entertained the skeleton regardless.

The trio finished their respective meals in silence. Sans grabbed the plates and went to wash the dishes while Papyrus and the kid chatted about his brother's puzzles. He was glad the kid and Papyrus were getting along. Any human that thought his bro wasn't cool, wasn't cool with Sans.

The younger skeleton wanted to stay and enjoy the morning with the two a little while longer, but he had to go pay a visit to Tori.

"Pap, i'm heading over to Tori's house. you two mind staying here til I get back?"

"NO PROBLEM BROTHER, GIVE HER MY WARMEST REGARDS. OH AND BRING HER THIS." Papyrus produced a Tupperware container of spaghetti and gave it to his younger brother.

"You mean Toriel?" the boy asked. The younger skeleton nodded.

"Can you give her something for me?"

The human dug a crumpled up piece of paper out of the front pocket of his hoodie and handed it to Sans.

"what's this?"

"I just uh, felt like I needed to PATELLA her something." Sans grinned widely, revealing his perfectly straight teeth.

 _Not bad._

"see you later."

Sans rubbed his knuckles against the top of Ty's head, giving the human an affectionate noogie. The skeleton did this a little longer than he planned to, as the soft sensation against his bones was pretty pleasant.

Sans turned his back toward the boy and promptly teleported away.

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Sans walked up to the door that led to the ruins and gave a soft couple of raps with his knuckles.

k ** **nock, knock****

"Who's there?!" Toriel shouted gleefully from behind the door.

"boo."

"Boo who?"

"don't cry Tori it's just a bad joke."

The goat woman produced a bellowing laugh, before knocking on the inside of the door to the ruins herself.

 ** **knock, knock****

"who's there?"

"Theodore."

"theodore who?"

"Theodore is stuck and it won't open."

Sans erupted into loud laughter, which was promptly followed by a coughing fit.

"You know you really should stop smoking those cigarettes. Especially since the human is living with you now."

"he smokes too actually, I was pretty surprised. when you were texting me you kept referring to him as a child, but he's fully grown."

"Sorry, I think of all the humans that come through here as my children. I got too attached once again this time. Probably because it's been so long since one fell into my home."

"how'd you two get along?" Sans asked his comedic partner in crime. A few beats of silence followed, as if the woman was thinking hard about what to say.

"To be honest, he didn't speak to me for the first couple of days. He's a very cautious boy. He's not very trusting at all. The human would only come into the kitchen once a day to fetch some pie, and he'd make sure to do it when I wasn't in the room. I wasn't sure what to do to get him to speak to me. That's actually why I texted you a few weeks ago asking for some of your best jokes. I told them to him and he couldn't stop laughing! I was worried it wouldn't work. I don't possess your comedic timing."

"TIBIA honest, I think you're funnier than you give yourself credit for."

Toriel chuckled lightly and there was another brief silence before the woman continued.

"After that he began to speak to me more regularly. I didn't learn much about him however. He mostly just asked questions about myself. If I asked him about his home or his family he'd get quiet or deflect the question. He'd have such a sad look in his face when I'd ask him those sorts of things. I decided to stick to jokes and telling stories after a while. Be patient with him Sans."

"i'll keep that in mind. so did you manage to get it?"

The door's mail slot opened up, and the woman handed Sans two small vials of liquid. One was labeled blood, the other, determination.

"thank you. hope it wasn't too difficult."

"It was not. I put some sleeping powder in his pie one night, and extracted the samples while he slept. I think he knew that I did something suspicious, but he did not confront me about it. What will you use it for?"

"i'm gonna do some tests. it's been a long time since I've had some human DNA in my lab. maybe I can make some progress on ways to break the barrier."

"I believe you're even smarter than Alphys Sans. If anyone can figure something out it'd be you."

"thanks Tori." Sans remarked, thankful for the compliment. "oh, here's this. the kid actually wanted me to give you a note." Sans handed the paper through the slot, as well as the container of spaghetti, which did not warrant an explanation. It was admittedly hard to fight the urge to read Ty's private letter to Tori, but he wanted to be respectful to his new human friend.

"thanks again for the DNA. I should probably head back now. i'll see you around."

"Before you go..." Toriel began, "That boy...he looks strong but his soul reminds me of a flickering candle. It seems quite fragile. I don't know if the boy can handle any more emotional trauma. Promise me you'll be kind to him."

"sure Tori."

"Goodbye my funny friend."

Sans glanced down at the two bottles of red liquid, and ideas for various experiments to try out ran through his head. He was eager to get back to work at the lab behind the brothers' house.

And he was even more eager to get back and see Ty.

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a/n

Still cleaning up stuff in these chapters. Just realized my line breaks didn't transfer over so hopefully the changes in POV are less confusing now. Chapter five early this week.


	5. Oops

_21 years old. Male. Blood type O. Per3 gene. That makes him a night owl. Klotho enzyme. He'll probably live a long life. Monoamine oxidase enzyme. He likes thrills._

Sans scanned the paper that came out of the printer-like device rapidly. It contained all of the information about the boy on a molecular level. To his knowledge, he was the only monster that had ever thought to look into the DNA of a human being. Alphys had the same opportunity to do so with the six other humans who lost their lives here, however she was mainly focused on the SOUL. But what if a clue was contained in the boy's blood?

The complexity of the kid's genes was truly incredible. The structure of a human's DNA resembled a double helix, while the structure of a monster's simply resembled a straight line. There were more chromosomes, more nucleotides, more of everything really. Sans couldn't help but feel just a bit inferior as he scanned page after page of information.

Sans got up out of his chair swiftly, and walked towards a cabinet on the back wall. There were vials of blood from "fallen down" monsters he had procured over the years. Some of them he killed in self-defense, some he scavenged like a vulture.

 _Froggit, AB, Loox, A, Icecap, AB, ah, there we are._

Sans grabbed a vial that read 'MOLDSMAL - O' and poured a drop onto the petri dish at his desk. The skeleton then added a droplet of the human's blood, covered the petri dish, and set it to the side. He'd have to check later and see if the blood of the monster and the boy were compatible. Knowing that a blood transfusion was possible between the two species could prove to be useful information in the future.

Sans then grabbed the other vial that Toriel had procured for him.

 _Determination._

The substance frustrated the skeleton to no end. Neither himself, nor W.D. Gaster could recreate it with science, nor with their magical powers. A monster's soul was the same way. There was anecdotal evidence that love, mercy, and compassion comprised SOULs like Sans's, and the rest of monster kind. But that was simply nothing to go off of from a biological standpoint. Yet, if Sans could somehow find a way to recreate and combine these two vastly different substances synthetically, then maybe there was a chance he could be the one to break the barrier. Free the monsters that he helped trap here by aiding Frisk.

Maybe he could atone for the sins that he had committed.

Sans pinched the bridge of his nose bone in frustration and let out a deep sigh. He had been analyzing the boy's DNA since he got home from Toriel's that afternoon. Papyrus and the kid were probably asleep by now, and the skeleton should probably turn in as well. Sleeping didn't seem like an appealing option to Sans however. At the very least though, a smoke break was in order.

The skeleton grabbed his menthols and walked out of his lab, through the living room, and toward the sliding glass door adjacent to the kitchen that led to the balcony of the brothers' house.

 _What's he doing up?_

Through the window, Sans saw that Ty was leaning against the deck railing outside, staring into the nothingness that was the sky over Snowdin.

The skeleton smiled maniacally as an idea for a prank crossed his mind. The skeleton tapped the glass loudly and teleported atop the railing the boy was leaning on, just as the human swung around to investigate the noise behind him. Sans then proceeded to playfully thump the back of the boy's head.

"boo."

The boy shrieked in a high pitched voice, then whipped back around and threw a fist toward Sans. The skeleton simply caught the human's punch and wrapped his bones around the boy's hand firmly.

"Jesus FUCK!" the boy screamed.

Sans laughed loudly at the human's reaction, and extended the boy a cigarette as a peace offering. The human snatched the smoke from Sans and let out an annoyed grunt.

"sorry kid, you left yourself wide open."

"That teleporting thing is a dirty trick. You get a kick out of scaring me don't you?"

"maybe a little."

The skeleton released the human's fist and lit the cigarette the boy had just stuck into his mouth. The human breathed in the smoke deeply, and puffed the smoke back out in the shape of small rings.

 _Cool._

"how do you do that?" San asked with curiosity, tracing the shape of a circle in the air with his bony index finger.

"This?" the human asked, replicating the trick he had just performed. The skeleton nodded.

"I think you need lips to do it." the boy said with sarcastic sympathy. "You're not the only one that can do cool shit."

 _Smart ass._

"oh yeah? how about this?"

Sans inhaled his menthol with tremendous force, so much so that half of the cigarette turned to ash in an instant and fluttered gently toward the ground. The skeleton then flicked off his neon yellow eyes, and let the smoke slowly leak out from his two eye sockets. Once all the smoke had escaped the skeleton's eyes, he flipped his pupils back on and grinned in smug satisfaction.

"Pretty cool I guess." the human said with a smile.

Sans looked at the boy who was still staring at the sky that loomed over Snowdin. He was wearing the skeleton's old hoodie. His stringy muscles filled the arms of the jacket, and his sleeves were rolled up revealing several tattoos covering the boy's forearms. An image of a skull surrounded by flames tucked under the boy's elbow caught the skeleton's eye. Sans gently poked the inked skin with his pinky bone.

"I know I'm a pretty cool guy kid, but you didn't have to tattoo my face on your arm or anything." Sans said teasingly.

"Y-yeah right! I got this piece done years ago. Who would get a tat of a guy with a cracked skull. That's just silly."

With the illumination provided by the cherried cigarettes, Sans could see the human was blushing again. It was a curious expressions that humans made. The boy's heart rate was increasing. He was sweating slightly and his blood vessels were dilating, improving circulation and oxygen flow. It only happened in the face though and nowhere else on the human body. It was a response to his being flustered, and Sans was starting to find it increasingly difficult to resist doing this to the human.

"What were you doing in that garage all day?" Ty asked. "Me and Papyrus called you for dinner and you never answered."

 _Had they?_ the skeleton thought. He was so engrossed in his work that he didn't notice. Papyrus would surely give a lecture about "EATING 3 MEALS A DAY" in the morning.

"my bad kid, didn't hear you. and that's not a garage, it's my lab. I was doing some research."

"On what?"

"how to break the barrier." Sans said, as he tossed his cigarette butt and lit a fresh smoke.

"So you want to get out of this place like everyone else?" Ty asked.

"all monsters do kid. our world is infinitely smaller than yours. I've taken a step everywhere you can down here three times over. you could never do that in the human world."

"Yeah you're right." the boy said with a compassionate voice. "I know what wanting a fresh start is like though. It's the same with you isn't it?"

"what makes you say that?" The skeleton asked. Sans took his eyes off his cig and briefly locked eyes with the human. The boy looked back up at the sky and tugged at his beard nervously.

"I uh, saw the way the other monsters glare at you. Like you're not welcome, like you don't belong here. I've seen that look before."

Maybe the boy wasn't as oblivious as Sans had thought.

"what are you looking at anyway kid?" Sans questioned, looking up at the empty sky the boy appeared to be transfixed with.

"Not sure. I always looked up at the stars when it got dark back home. Sucks that monsters can't see them. I miss em a little bit." the boy said with a tinge of sadness.

"homesick yet?"

"Not really. I'm content with where I am right now."

"honeymoon phase." Sans scoffed. "just try not to get killed before you realize you want to go back above the surface."

"We'll see about that." the human said confidently, still looking up toward the sky.

"y'know...we do have some stars here too." Sans said.

"Really!? Where?" the human shouted excitedly.

"I'll make you another deal. Come help me look for some lab equipment at the dump and I'll show you some stars after. they're by the waterfall."

"Yeah that sounds great! When?"

"how about now? or do you need your beauty rest?" Sans said teasingly.

"N-no let's go now! Is it safe though? What if we run into some monsters?"

"I don't mean to brag kid but I'm pretty damn strong. you won't find a better bodyguard than me."

Sans gently slapped the boy's shoulder, and turned around to walk back inside."

"give me a few minutes to clean up my lab. we're leaving in ten."

-

Ty pulled the drawstrings of his newly acquired blue jacket so that the hood clung tightly against his head. The cold was as harsh as ever tonight, and yet another layer of thick fog surrounded the pair, accompanied by cold rain and small pea-sized hail. Thankfully Sans brought a heavy-duty umbrella of his own making to make their walk a little less treacherous. The boy could barely make out the outline of the skeleton, who was leading the way at a leisurely pace. It pissed Ty off how unaffected by the subzero temperatures Sans was.

"Remind me why you don't just teleport us there?"

"it's safer this way. i have no way of knowing what kind of shady characters will be nearby when i do that. there are monsters in the waterfall that'll eat you alive."

"At least I'd be warm if a monster ate me whole." Ty said bitterly.

"quit your bitching. we're here." Sans growled.

Through the haze the boy saw an impossibly large mauve colored mountain in front of him, with a perfectly square hole in the and the skeleton walked through the large opening of the cave, and the loud whipping noises of the wind were replaced by the sound of water flowing gently nearby. The inside of the cave was completely and utterly dark. The only thing the boy could see in front of him were the skeleton's bright yellow eyes which were staring holes through the human.

"Is there a light switch in here?" the boy asked Sans.

"one sec. don't move kid."

The sound of the skeleton's footsteps grew quieter and quieter as he proceeded ahead without the boy. In an instant the cavern was illuminated with a soft blue glow. The newfound light was coming from the bell-like plant the skeleton was now holding in his hand.

"this is a lantern lily. it'll help us get around. stay close kid."

The human followed closely as the skeleton led him through tunnel after tunnel. There were so many interconnected paths inside of the mountain that the boy lost track of where the exit was shortly after arriving. Ty found the area so peacefully serene. The echo of rushing water was soothing, and there were several different types of flora that glowed brightly against the pitch black landscape. The rooms had that all too familiar earthy wet petrichor smell that came after a fresh rainfall. It was a nice escape from the cruel cold of Snowdin.

The two emerged from a particularly narrow tunnel and entered the room where the waterfall was contained. It seemed impossibly high, going further than the human's gaze could reach.

"hold up." Sans said suddenly, blocking the boy's path with his outstretched arm. Ty froze in place upon hearing the skeleton's caveat.

Off in the distance an extremely off-key voice began to ring throughout the cave. It was an ear-piercing sound that rattled the boy's eardrums. The boy groaned in pain as he felt a trickle of blood leak out from his right ear. Just up ahead a monster was singing a rather depressing melody, and the volume was increasing, indicating that the loud creature approaching the pair.

"o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oohhhhhh. Do i hear someone up ahead? Pleeeeeease be kind enough to kiiiiiiiill meeeeeeeeeeee." a Shyren cried.

"this way." Sans said calmly. He grabbed the boy's wrist and led him through a tunnel that extended in the opposite direction of the monster. The pair walked another half mile down treacherous, rocky terrain until they reached their intended destination, the dump.

"go grab whatever you want, usually there's cigarettes and other human luxuries over there." Sans said, conjuring a magic spotlight that shined down on a dirty heap of rubbish about 50 feet from where the pair stood.

The human scampered over to the other corner of the cave while Sans teleported at a rapid pace to look for any lab equipment that might have fallen recently. The goods were fan-fucking tastic tonight. A bunch of stoppers and corks, plenty of glass and rubber tubing, an alcohol lamp bulb, a 12 oz bottle of iodine, and plenty of other useful equipment that Sans mentally vowed to take advantage of in the coming days.

"There's flowers down here?" the boy shouted at the skeleton. Sans glanced up and looked at the boy who was examining a patch of sparkling blue flowers, that were about as tall as the boy himself.

"They're echo flowers..." Sans began, "...they repeat the last thing they hear.

"They're beautiful..." the boy trailed off, kneeling down to the patch of flowers. The plants moved slowly toward the boy's ear, as if they were telling him a secret.

"I pray another human does not find his way down here. They'll kill us all!"

"If a human was in front of me right now I'd snap their neck like a twig!"

"A quick and painless death is too kind. Humans should be tortured slowly, as we have been for so many years!"

Sans watched as the human walked away briskly from the flowers. Sans walked up to comfort the boy, but he sprang back to his feet, and shouted so that every flower could hear what he said.

"I'M A HUMAN, BUT I PROMISE I WON'T HURT YOU. I WON'T HURT ANYONE EVER!"

"...never again..."

Sans swiftly teleported over toward the human and roughly covered the boy's loud mouth with his finger-bones.

"shhhhh. there's other monsters. don't attract any unwanted..."

Sans's sentence trailed off once he heard the sound of small tires screeching, accompanied by a frenzied high pitch beeping noise. It was the all-too-familiar sound of one of Alphys's Robots zooming toward the two boys.

"shit...was it the carbon dioxide from your loud mouth?" Sans questioned aloud, trying to figure out how exactly the robots worked. The robots themselves weren't a problem, Sans could take them out. But they were equipped with cameras that would reveal Sans was once again aiding a human in the underworld. That would not be good.

Just as Sans finished his sentence a large robot zoomed into the room. It was about 8 feet in height and had spiky titanium armor, and a glass siren that resembled that of a human world police car topper. The lights from which illuminated the cave in flashing red and blue light that revealed their location. Sans prepared to conjure a few bones through the ground to pierce and destroy the hunk of metal, but the human beat him to the punch. The boy leisurely jogged past Sans and hurled an old moldy bowling ball that was by the human's feet, right through the center of the robot's body, completely obliterating the metallic fiend, which proceeded to explode into a fiery rain of debris inside the cave.

Sans watched the scene unfold in amazement, impressed at the speedy reflexes of the human, and equally as unimpressed with his lack of stealth.

"grab my arm kid, we need to head back. NOW."

The human boy obeyed, and grabbed the sleeve of the skeleton's jacket, and in an instant, they vanished to the safety of the skelebro's house.

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"Uh-uh-Undyne! The-the sensor! It..it went off! There's a human!"

"You're kidding!" "Where is it!? Tell me dammit!"

"T-the human was in the cave but I can't detect his presence there anymore. B-b-but I'm sure that one is here. My robot's would n-never go off without assuredly finding a p-person with human DNA. B-b-but my robot! X23-JJN went offline. It appears it's been destroyed! T-t-there's no signal! I'm so sorry Undyne, I can't see exactly where they are! I can't view the camera footage anymore either!"

Undyne walked over to Alphys calmly, the look in her eyes was voracious, and filled with determination.

"That's fine. You did a great job my love. The things you do impress me to no end." The fish monster whispered, kissing the top of Alphys's forehead.

"How about you and I go through a nice walk through the underworld sweetie?"

Undyne grabbed Alphys's hand harshly, and began to drag her out of their secret lair, and into the world that containted their key to salvation, to peace, to the outside.

The world that contained a newly found human.


	6. Secret

"I...I just got so pissed off!"

The human male gripped both sides of his head tightly, trying to calm himself down. The man used every ounce of strength within his sinewy forearms to cover his ears. It was a vain attempt to block out the noise uttered by the echo flowers moments before.

But there's simply no way to block any sound that's already booming inside of one's own head.

Meanwhile, Gaster Sans zipped about the skelebro's home frantically. He jogged through every room in the house and locked all doors and windows. Sans then proceeded to close all the curtains, so that no peeping eyes, or more importantly robots, from the outside could look in.

Sans continued to examine every nook and cranny of the skeletons' house to make sure that the home was properly secured. Once the doctor was satisfied with his work, he turned to face the boy, who was sitting on a plush green sofa in the center of the room. The human had his head wrapped in between his thighs and was rocking back and forth, continuing his efforts to quell his anger.

Without warning the boy felt a cold bony hand yank his wrist roughly. Sans led the human up the stairs toward a door that was covered with caution tape and do not enter signs plastered on the front. Sans kicked the door open and dragged the boy into the room. The human silently began to inspect his new surroundings. Truth be told, Sans's room looked like it had just been robbed. Papers littered the floor, alongside dishes of half-eaten spaghetti, socks, and empty bottles of gin. Aside from the trash scattered about, it was a relatively large, yet empty bedroom.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING BACK THERE?"

Ty's eyes widened in surprise at hearing the skeleton scream for the first time. The boy then proceeded to hang his head low, his eyes glued to the skeleton's boots which were dusted with a thin layer of snow leftover from their disastrous journey into the cave. The human could not meet the skeleton's gaze, and he was unable to answer his question due to the simple fact that he was not thinking at all. Then or now. He acted on emotion over simple logic all too often. Tears slowly formed in the corners of the boy's eyes. His inner feelings swirling and crashing around his head like violent waves.

"DO YOU EVEN CARE IF YOU LIVE OR DIE? HUH?" Sans barked at the boy. The skeleton now had a forceful grip on both of the human's shoulders, and Sans began to shake the human roughly. The boy continued to remain immobile however, his eyes focused on the floor beneath them.

"you can't be so damn careless!" Sans said with a tone of frustration.

The skeleton took his bones off the boy momentarily to stifle a loud hacking cough that was a direct result of the monster's over-exertion of his own voice. It was a rare occurrence for Sans to feel the need to shout at anyone like this.

"this isn't just about you anymore..." Sans continued. "...if Undyne or Alphys find out I've been helping you this whole world's gonna want me and my bro's head on a stick!"

Those last few words finally roused signs of life within the human boy. Ty mentally cursed himself upon the realization that he had put the skeleton brothers' lives in danger. Ty slumped down onto his knees, and let his face rest gently on the wooden planks below. The tears in the corners of the human's eyes now flowed freely, and the boy began to pummel the floor below with his fist repeatedly.

 _Some friend I am._

"What the hell is wrong with me?!" Ty growled.

"I'm so stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

With every blow the human struck against the floor, his right hand began to sting more and more. The self-deprecating voices inside the boy's head grew louder and more numerous with every pound of his fist. In an effort to get the noise rattling his brain to become silent, the boy began to throw punches unto the side of his own head instead. Still, the voices refused to deaden.

 _You loser_

 _You're worthless_

 _Dumb_

 _Pathetic_

"I'm pathetic. Pathetic. Pathetic..."

Ty's drubbing of his own head was interrupted by the taller skeleton swiftly grabbing the boy's hand to prevent any further self-harm. The boy attempted to twist and pull away from Sans's grip, but the skeleton kept the hand locked firmly in place with his usual ease. Sans examined the rough calloused hand of the human that was now covered in blood. The knuckles were split from punching the floor and himself so hard.

"whoa whoa...hey bud...that's enough don't you think?" Sans whispered, now wearing an expression of deep concern and sadness. The scientist rummaged around the pockets of his leather jacket and pulled out a half-used roll of gauze tape, and proceeded to bandage up the human's knuckles. Ty finally stopped attempting to wriggle away from the taller man's grip, and somberly watched Sans loop the bandaging around and around his skin. With Ty's other free arm, he dug out a cigarette he scavenged from the Dump out of his pocket, and began to smoke. The rush of nicotine combined with the skeleton firmly holding his hand in place helped numb the turbulence inside of his brain.

After Sans finished dressing up the kid's wound, the boy examined his right hand. Even though it was completely covered with the bright white gauze, a small patch of blood still showed through. The pain from his injuries was only now becoming apparent. Truth be told, he didn't realize how much he'd been hurting himself while it happened. Whenever he got like this he always felt so out of it, like some sort of hyper-emotional out-of-body experience. Oblivious to his own pain, or the pain of those around him. An awkward period of silence followed. Neither Sans, nor the boy knew quite what to say. The skeleton continued to hold a firm grip on the human's hand despite the fact that the kid was no longer attempting to struggle against the monster.

"Heh, I can't seem to stop causing trouble for you." Ty said, finally breaking the tense air that was suffocating them both.

Once Sans was sure the human had ceased his self-abuse, he released the human's hand. Sans let out a deep sigh before speaking.

"i can handle trouble kid. what I can't handle is watching you do that." Sans said, tapping the top of the boy's bloodied hand.

"Yeah...I'm really sorry."

"don't sweat it kiddo... i was kinda harsh. and it was my idea to drag you out there anyway. maybe not the brightest idea. I can be a "KNUCKLE HEAD" myself sometimes." Sans said with a grin, again tapping the boy's newly bandaged hand.

The two chuckled lightly, both thankful to have a bit of comedic relief after what transpired. Sans slowly stood up, his bones popping and cracking as he rose. The younger skelebro then grabbed the boy's undamaged hand and hoisted him up to his feet.

"sorry stargazing didn't pan out. let's try again sometime."

"Kay." the human said, finally wearing a smile.

"BROTHER!"

The older skeleton brother burst through the door of Sans's room, wearing a panicked expression on his face. Papyrus began to dig through the space between his sternum and spinal column frantically, before producing a small cell phone that appeared to be entirely outdated.

"UNDYNE...SHE JUST TEXTED ME. SHE SAYS SHE HAS SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT TO TALK ABOUT. SHE'S COMING OVER RIGHT NO-"

Before The Great Papyrus could finish his sentence, there was a loud series of knocks at the front door.

"already?" Sans growled.

"Undyne?" The human questioned.

Without warning, Sans opened the door to his closet using his magic powers, and shoved the human into a dirty pile of Sans's undershirts and socks.

"cover yourself up and stay here kid. don't move and keep your mouth closed. we'll keep you safe, right Pap?" Sans said reassuringly.

"OF COURSE BROTHER. THAT IS WHAT A HERO DOES!" Papyrus beamed, flashing a thumbs-up to the human as he exited the room to greet the brother's not-so-welcome guests.

With his back turned to the human, Sans gave a small wave of his hand before he closed the door with magic gently, and left the human hidden alone in the closet.

Normally Ty would be offended at being thrown into a pile of dirty laundry, but in this particular situation he didn't feel like he had a leg to stand on. The boy curled up into a ball and covered his mouth, determined to keep his promise to be quiet this time.

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"GREETINGS UNDYNE. AND HELLO TO YOU TOO ALPHYS. IT'S BEEN TOO LONG. WHAT BRINGS YOU TO OUR HUMBLE HOME?" Papyrus shouted cheerfully.

Sans studied the fish warrior and the yellow reptilian carefully. It had been about half a year since Sans and his brother had even seen the pair. Undyne always had an intimidating physique, but she appeared to have put on even more muscle than she possessed previously. She still wore her signature black tanktop and combat pants. The only striking difference really being her left eye, which used to be covered with a black eyepatch. What was there now was a glowing red bionic eye, that appeared to possess an infrared laser.

 _Alphys has truly outdone herself this time._

Sans then turned his gaze to Undyne's lover Alphys. She looked the same as always. A timid regal horned lizard that wore coke-bottle glasses and a bright white labcoat. She had not even looked up at Sans or his brother yet. She was speedily flipping through papers attached to a clipboard. Those of which she read with great urgency.

"Hey guys..." Undyne muttered with a surprising tone of apprehensiveness.

"hey." Sans replied flatly.

"Sorry that Alfy and I haven't been by lately. We've been pretty busy at the lab. But we have some big news. Mind if we come in for a second?" Undyne asked.

"OF COURSE, YOU'RE ALWAYS WELCOME TO COME BY WHENEVER YOU PLEASE." Papyrus shouted happily.

 _Dammit Pap, what are you thinking?_

Sans shot his brother a questioning look, to which Papyrus responded with yet another thumbs up. Papyrus was naïve, but he was not stupid in the slightest. Whatever reason his brother possessed for inviting the girls inside was probably a good one. But having their frenemies in the house with a loud-mouth human in the other room was worrisome at best for Sans.

Using his telekinetic powers, Sans scooted the four chairs surrounding the dining table out so that the four monsters could sit.

"PLEASE, DO SIT DOWN! WOULD YOU LIKE SOME SPAGHETTI? OR MAYBE A DRINK?"

"Water sounds nice." Undyne said with a half-smile. Alphys simply shook her head shyly. To this day Alphys was not the talkative type clearly. Papyrus proceeded to fetch the fish monster's drink while the two women sat down next to each other on one end of the table. Naturally, Sans and his older brother sat on the other side.

"SO DO TELL US, THE SUSPENSE IS UNBEARABLE! WHAT IS YOUR BIG NEWS?!" Papyrus squealed.

Sans fought the urge to grin at his brother's very believable acting. Papyrus and Sans knew full well what was coming next. What worried Sans was exactly how much the two knew.

"RIGHT!" Undyne said, suddenly full of energy. "Tell 'em babe."

"S-S-Sure. As I'm sure you all have seen, my r-r-robots have been roaming the city recently. W-W-Well they're robots capable of d-detecting human DNA. And well, just a few moments ago we had a positive reading!"

"Isn't she amazing?" Undyne asked the brothers. The fish monster gave her lover an affectionate slap on the back which nearly knocked off Alphys's glasses. The yellow lizard blushed madly while re-adjusting her lenses.

"THAT'S WONDERFUL NEWS! YOUR ROBOTS ARE TRULY AMAZING ALPHYS! HOW DID YOU MANAGE SUCH A FEAT?"

 _Ahh so that's what he's doing._

Yet again, Papyrus's friendly demeanor was proving to be a useful asset. His older brother was trying to glean information from the couple. Sans was not a social monster like Papyrus, and he would never have thought to invite them in to poke their brains. Even if he did, the younger skeleton was not a great liar, and Undyne probably would have seen right through it.

 _My bro is really the coolest._

"W-well my robots are equipped with video recording software, a-and they're capable of identifying a human by many d-different means. Hair, skin, blood, spit, tears, et cetera! A-and with my recently installed pitch-detection software, my robots can detect a human's voice. Y-you know, since they have a much higher pitch than us monsters. T-they also..."

Undyne placed her webbed hand gently on Alphys's left shoulder. It was a silent signal that Alphys was starting to talk too much, and that it would be in the women's best interest that Alphys not reveal any further information. The yellow lizard gave a small nod of understanding before continuing.

"A-Anyway, that's the gist of it." the royal scientist mumbled quietly.

"Alphys says there's even a chance there could be more than one human! She only detected a single type of DNA but if there's twins, or hell even qua... uh, what was it again sweetie?" Undyne asked.

"Quadruplets!"

"Right! If there's quadruplets then hell, there might be enough souls down here for the four of us to escape to the surface!" Undyne shouted excitedly.

 _"Good. They don't know how many humans are down here, or what they look like."_ Sans thought happily to himself. His new human friend was safe. For the time being.

"Anyway." Undyne said loudly. "Aside from that, we wanted to ask you guys if you'd seen any humans around lately?" The fish monster narrowed her lone eye at the pair of skeletons.

 _She's suspicious._

"no. can't say i have." Sans said as he gritted his teeth in annoyance at the woman's accusatory tone. "you know me...i'm a lazy bones. i barely get out nowadays."

"ME NEITHER. SURELY A HUMAN WOULD HAVE FALLEN PREY TO ONE OF MY PUZZLES AND BE MY PRISONER BY NOW IF I HAD SEEN A HUMAN. BUT THERE ARE CERTAINLY NO HUMANS HERE. ABSOLUTELY ZERO!" Papyrus screamed emphatically. So loudly in fact that even Ty could make out what the older skeleton brother was saying from upstairs.

"Ah, I see." Undyne began. "W-well you still intend to keep your promise right? You'll still let me and Alfy capture the next two souls that make their way down here?"

"yeah sure." Sans said with a bored look. "you guys do what you will. my focus is solely on how to break the barrier."

"I-I must say, I really haven't had any luck in coming up with a solution to the removal of the barrier. I must warn you it seems to be quite a fruitless endeavor." Alphys said with her usual nervous tone.

"i'll decide what's worth researching and what's not Alphys." Sans said with a very irritated tone.

 _Ow!_

Sans looked at his brother Papyrus who had just kicked Sans in his shin bone from underneath the table. Sans took the hint and proceeded to silence himself.

"Watch how you talk to her you bag-o-bones!" Undyne shouted as she pounded her fists on the table. Sans and Undyne stared at each other intensely. Undyne's bionic eye appeared to buzz quietly, as if powering up an attack, while Sans's own eyes shined with an obnoxious brightness, ready to retaliate.

"NOW, NOW YOU TWO! NO REASON TO FIGHT! IT'S BEEN SO LONG! LET'S NOT GET NASTY!" Papyrus shouted with his usual smile. Pap then proceeded to grab Undyne and Sans's hands, and forced them into a handshake. Despite the contact, the fish monster and Sans continued to stare each other down intensely.

Undyne sighed loudly and plopped back against her chair before opening her mouth again to speak. "Well, would you two be willing to help us find the human then? If you see it around?" Undyne asked.

Before Sans could give an emphatic "hell no!" Papyrus stood up swiftly.

"OH UNDYNE! I WOULD GLADLY ASSIST YOU IN ATTEMPTING TO CAPTURE A HUMAN! IT WOULD BE JUST LIKE OLD TIMES. BACK WHEN I WAS TRAINING TO BE A MEMBER OF YOUR ROYAL GUARD! I MYSELF, HAVE FORMED MY OWN ROYAL GUARD SINCE THEN, AND WE ARE CURRENTLY ENLISTING MEMBERS. I WOULD BE HONORED TO WORK ALONGISDE YOU AGAIN!"

"R-really? you have your own army now Papyrus!?" Undyne shouted half-amazed, half in disbelief.

"YES! CURRENTLY I AM THE ONLY CURRENT MEMBER BUT THERE IS CERTAINLY ROOM TO ADD YOU TO MY RANKS." Papyrus screamed with a smile.

"Jeez Pap." The fish warrior said before letting out a bellowing laugh. "Sure why not, but I follow my own orders though, got it?" Undyne said with a large grin. Her yellow, razor sharp fangs on full display.

"I WOULD NOT HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY GENERAL UNDYNE!" Papyrus said, before giving Undyne an emphatic high-five.

"So...what about you Sans? Will you join us?" Undyne said with a glimmer of hope in her voice.

"sorry. i'm a lone wolf." Sans winked. "but I won't get in your way. cross my heart and hope to die."

"Hmmph. I guess that's as good of a response I could have hoped from you, you punk!" Undyne said with mild annoyance in her voice.

"U-Undyne. D-d-do you mind if we head back to the old lab now? I want to get started on analyzing the rest of this data." Alphys asked sheepishly.

Undyne scooched over and responded with nothing but a kiss. With that, the two women stood up and headed to the door, which Sans was very grateful for.

"Alright we'll get out of your hair, let's keep in touch." Undyne suggested. "If you've got some time tomorrow Papyrus let's get a sparring session in."

"OF COURSE! I'LL COME TO YOUR HOUSE TOMORROW BRIGHT AND EARLY."

"Deal."

The two women waved their goodbyes and Undyne slammed the door behind her shut. So forcefully in fact, that the entire room shook from the force.

"finally." Sans sighed.

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"T-that went pretty well!" Alphys exclaimed, as the two monsters walked through the land of Hotland toward their lab. "It's been so long since we'd spoken to them! I-I was worried it would be super awkward and I wouldn't know what to say!"

"Huh?" Undyne said, barely registering what her lover had said. "Oh sure."

"I-is something wrong Undyne? W-what're you thinking about?" Alphys asked while studying the fish monster, who appeared to be deep in thought.

"Hmmm, I don't know..." Undyne began. "...don't you think it's a little weird that Sans said he hadn't seen anything yet? He's usually the first one to get wind of things like this. That skeleton is sneaky."

"W-well the human did appear to destroy my robot before I could view any footage. Perhaps this human is more clever than the others and has avoided even Sans up til now?" Alphys pondered aloud.

"Maybe...I still don't know if I buy it though. But it doesn't matter! We're gonna find that damn human first and get out of this hell hole! Just you and me." Undyne shouted, her voice echoing throughout the lava filled landscape.

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"NYEH HEH HEH! WHAT DID YOU THINK OF MY PERFORMANCE BROTHER?" Papyrus said grinning ear bone to ear bone.

"you're the coolest bro." Sans said with a giant smile. "so are you really gonna head over to Undyne's tomorrow?"

"NATURALLY. THIS WAY I'LL BE ABLE TO KEEP TABS ON UNDYNE AND ALPHYS, ALL WHILE MAKING MY NEW ROYAL GUARD THAT MUCH MORE FORMIDABLE! AND TY THE HUMAN WILL REMAIN SAFE."

"oh yeah..." Sans said, almost forgetting about the boy tucked away in the closet. "hey kid! you can come down now, they're gone."

Ty the human emerged from Sans's room and slowly made his way down the stairs. The boy was wearing a smile, but Sans noticed the human's eyelids were a bright pink and a bit puffy, indicating he had been crying. His emotions were clearly still must have been running a little high.

"Hey...how did it go?" Ty asked nervously.

"nothing to worry about...yet anyway." San said reassuringly.

"INDEED. HOWEVER, I MUST BE AT UNDYNE'S EARLY TOMORROW MORNING. I SHOULD REALLY GET BACK TO BED. THIS HAS BEEN A CHAOTIC EVENING TO SAY THE LEAST. YOU TWO SHOULD REALLY REFRAIN FROM TAKING SUCH TREACHEROUS JOURNEYS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT."

"yeah, sorry Papyrus. how about you get some sleep? you've earned it" Sans suggested.

The great Papyrus nodded in agreement and wished the pair a good night before returning to his quarters.

"Well, I guess we should turn in for the night. I'm beat." Ty said while letting out a loud yawn. The boy walked over to the couch and leaned forward to plop onto the comfy sofa, but before he could do so, Sans grabbed the hood of the boy's jacket, preventing him from falling onto the couch.

"ohhhh no you don't kid." Sans whispered in the boy's ear, before yanking him back up to a standing position. "sleep can wait a little longer, you're gonna help me with something first. you do kind of owe me after that stunt in the cave. Sans grinned, his yellow eyes gleaming deviously in the dark room.

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Sans laughed as the boy took in the sight of the front room of the skeleton's laboratory. The human scanned the wires, needles, and machines around the room worriedly.

"don't like going to the doctor?" Sans said teasingly.

"What the hell is all this junk? You're not gonna electrocute me or anything right?" Ty asked pleadingly.

Sans ignored the question and continued to place electrodes on different parts of the boy's arms, legs, and head.

"jacket off." Gaster Sans said quietly, but forcefully.

The human obliged and removed Sans's old hoodie, leaving the human with just an undershirt and dirtied blue jeans.

"and the shirt."

"Jeez. Pervert." Ty remarked as he balled up his tanktop and threw it at the skeleton. The monster simply used his magic powers to prevent the shirt from hitting him, and let the tee flutter haplessly onto the cool marbled floor below.

"don't flatter yourself kid." Sans said as he rolled his eyes. Sans continued to place the electrodes on the boy's body carefully. The electrodes were connected by wires to a large machine next to Sans that had flashing multicolored lights and large buttons. The skeleton was grateful that the boy was so muscular, it made it easier to identify the kid's muscle groups, which in turn made it a simple task to figure out exactly where to place the sensors for best results.

"any allergies?" Sans asked.

"Not that I know of?"

"good. then drink this." Sans said handing the boy a small cup of a pasty, chalk white liquid.

"The hell is this?" Ty asked as he downed the drink in one gulp.

"this is called a barium swallow. i'll be able to take detailed x-rays of your insides now. it doesn't taste good though. sorry."

Ty's gag reflex began to trigger and the boy groaned annoyedly.

"GAH, no shit! This is awful. Could have warned me sooner!" the human shouted in disgust.

Sans began to howl with laughter.

"if i did that then you wouldn't have fucking drank it. now lay down." Sans said smugly.

Ty obliged and laid down on a large white, rectangular table which was lined with disposable paper. An extremely tall x-ray machine hovered above the human boy's head, with monitors positioned off to the sides. Sans wheeled his office chair to the monitor and pressed a few buttons. The bed the human laid on began to move upward a few inches in the air, closer to the x-ray above. Sans flipped the switch on the monitor in front of him. The video feed popped on, which displayed the boy's mouth, esophagus, stomach, and heart clearly. There were no abnormalities of any kind showing, which relieved the scientist.

"everything looks pretty good. your blood pressure's going up a little bit though. nervous?"

"Maybe a little. Not a huge fan of doctors I guess." Ty said, with a slight quiver in his voice.

Sans wheeled his chair over next to the boy and locked eyes with the human who was lying still on his back.

"breathe deeply through your nose, and exhale through your mouth. these are just some simple tests. i promise it won't hurt." Sans said with a serious expression.

"Y-yeah. Got it."

"alright question time..." Sans began. "...when did you first become aware that you could use the power of determination?"

"Hmmm. I think I used it the first time way back in Kindergarten actually."

"do you remember what exactly happened that day?" Sans said, as he jotted the boy's response onto his notepad.

"Yeah, actually that was a weird day. That was the only time I'd ever gotten into a fight at school. I don't remember what exactly happened but a bigger kid in class kept shoving this girl in my class on the ground over and over. It really pissed me off so I got up from my desk and shoved him. I was a lot smaller than him but I managed to push him backwards really hard. He hit the wall behind him and the back of his head was bleeding. I got into a shit ton of trouble that day." The human said with a laugh.

"interesting." Sans said, as he flipped a switch that caused the x ray machine to slowly move above the human's head. "when was the next time you used your determination?"

"Hmmm...I was probably in my teens when I used it again."

"what happened the second time you used it?"

"I uh...I don't really remember that well."

"hmmm. you remember what happened exactly when you were young, but not what happened a few years ago. you sure?"

"Y-yeah, I can't really recall..." the boy said, trailing off.

Sans glanced at the computer to his left. The monitor indiciated the boy's pulse and heart rate spiked dramatically for a moment.

 _Ah, so he finally lied._

Sans rolled back to the other monitor to the skeleton's right and ceased his questioning for the time being. He glanced at the computer screen which displayed images of the boy's internal organs. His spinal column moved gently with each hurried breath, and his organs rocked back and forth in tiny waves.

"alright. one more thing..." Sans began. "how much control do you have over your determination? be honest."

"Uh, if I think pretty hard I can control it pretty well."

"so if i asked you to activate say...50% of your determination, could you do that?" Sans asked curiously.

"Sure. Want me to?" The human asked.

"go for it."

The boy closed his eyes and began to hum quietly. Within a few seconds the boy's body began to glow a faint neon yellow. While this happened Sans stared at the monitor in front of him. The boy's heart began to pump fervently. The pace of which indicated that it was not simply a result of being nervous in the doctor's office.

"can you do 75%?" Sans asked politely.

The human hummed a bit louder and Sans again saw the human's heart beat even faster. His brain activity was steadily increasing now as well. It was clear, there must be a correlation between the heart and determination. Possibly his brain too. This was very useful information.

"good stuff kid. go for 100%"

The human began to hum even louder, however the yellow aura around his body did not shine any brighter. The human opened his eyes and stared at his torso in confusion. The boy clenched his fists into a ball and continued to try and summon his determination. The veins in the boy's forehead began to bulge and beads of sweat formed on his forehead. But there was no change in the readings that were displayed in front of Sans.

"What the hell?" Ty said angrily.

"what's the matter kid?"

"T-this isn't 100%. I'm stronger than this. I know I am."

Sans scratched his cheekbone absentmindedly while the human strained and strained, trying to summon an internal strength that refused to come to the surface. Finally after about 5 minutes the human gave up, and the energy that surrounded his body vanished completely. Ty groaned and began to rub his forehead with his good hand.

"you okay kid?"

"Yeah...I kind of overdid I think. I'm not sure what's wrong. That wasn't the limit of my strength. I'm sure of it."

The skeleton wheeled back over to the kid and flicked his forehead playfully.

"trust me, i know kid. I saw what you did at the dump. it's been a long day, you're probably just tired."

Sans began to remove sensors from the boy's torso, legs, and arms. The monster then grasped the electrodes on the boy's head to remove them, but paused before unclenching his grip.

"mmm...you mind helping me with one more experiment?"

"I guess. What now?"

"not much, all you have to do is sleep. I wanna monitor your brain waves. See if you have any funky dreams tonight."

"Sure, why not?"

The boy hopped to his feet, but immediately after he did so, the human groaned and started to fall backward. Sans wheeled over next to the boy and quickly placed his hollowed out palm against the kid's back to keep him upright.

"ahhh. take it easy. you've been laying down for a while, your body needs to adjust to being vertical again."

Sans wrapped the boy's arm around his shoulder and proceeded to lead the boy out of the lab and up the stairs.

"The couch is over there." The boy said with a slurred, confused voice.

"it's cool. you can crash in my bed tonight. i don't really feel like sleeping." Sans said kindly.

"Sounds nice." Ty said sleepily.

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Sans studied his Electroencephalography machine for what seemed like the 100th time tonight. No major brain activity. Nothing to really go off of, but it comforted the skeleton knowing that the kid wasn't having an unwelcome visits from W.D. Gaster while he slept tonight.

Sans groaned and took another swig from his second bottle of gin. He'd finished the first about an hour ago. Sans wasn't going to be able to remain conscious much longer unfortunately. The human provided some good information this evening, and good progress was made. But the skeleton knew the prospect of breaking the barrier that divided their worlds remained an intimidating one.

The monster groaned and let his dizzied head fall gently against the table below him. He reached for a cigarette on the table, but the alcohol made his arm feel impossibly heavy, and he thought better of lighting one more smoke. The scientist turned to look at the boy, who was sleeping comfortably in Sans's bed. The expression on the human's face fascinated Sans. He looked so innocent, like he had absolutely nothing to hide. The usual worry and stress that constantly plagued the kid's expression was gone. What remained was his natural self. His eyebrows were not furrowed, his lips were not pursed, the boy was simply regaining strength in an unconcious state. Sans wished that humans could always look this way. No lies, no forced smiles, no bullshit. Just their authentic self.

Sans studied the tattoos that covered the boy's torso. A woman with snakes for hair, a flaming spear, a sea filled with Dolphins, a human hand with a middle finger raised up. All of these tattoos offered vague clues to the human's makeup. Not his biological makeup, but the makeup of his soul, the very essence of his being. The essence that continued to elude all tests and experiments Sans could come up with.

The skeleton stood up and drunkenly staggered towards the boy, who was well on his way toward that deep final stage of REM sleep. Sans tossed the last bit of gin in the bottle down the back of his own throat, and let the glass fall with a soft thud against the ground.

The skeleton crouched on the floor, so that he was eye level with the boy and rested his skull against the soft mattress his new human was occupying.

"what...*hiccup* what's the secret kid?" Sans begged the unconscious human.

The human offered no response.

Soon afterward, the skeleton drifted off to sleep as well.


End file.
